New Teen Titans: Marvelous
by Caibel
Summary: AU, Marvel crossover. It's a new beginning for the Teen Titans, involving the recruit of SpiderMan, the Human Torch, Nightcrawler and Iceman. More will eventually join to help fight crime, but how can they all cope under one roof? UPDATED! Please R
1. The Beginning

Disclaimer: Everything in here is owned by Marvel and DC, but there will probably be things owned by others coming in later. I'll state who owns them when I do. I can't help it, I'm a crossover addict.

AN: I wrote this story a really long time ago, the first 18 chapters of it. Frankly, I think it sucks, especially the first few chapters, but I like where the plot is _intended_ to go, so I decided to continue it in an attempt to redeem it and make it better as well as make my return to writing easier since I already have the beginning set out for me. Flame me, whatever, I plan to improvise. I'll try to rewrite the earlier chapters to make them better without necessarily retconning the future ones. The Teen Titans and most of the characters in their series will be mostly based on the versions of themselves in the Anime show while most of the Marvel people will be more original versions of themselves. Also, just to make sure no one's confused, I switch between reffering to the Titans and their recruits as their alter egoes and hero names. If you don't know them all, here it is...

Tim Drake/Robin (15 years old)  
Victor Stone/Cyborg (16 years old)  
Garfield Logan/Beast Boy (14 years old)  
Starfire (real name, 15 years old)  
Raven (real name, 15 years old)  
Peter Parker/Spider-Man(14 years old)  
Johnny Storm/Human Torch (16 years old)  
Bobby Drake/Iceman (15 years old)  
Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler (14 years old)

Older AN: Okay. Just so this all makes sense, I want to point out a few things really quick. In this story, the Marvel and DC worlds are intertwined in a whole different universe. That means everything starts over - everything. The Titans are just now forming, and all of the superheroes and villains are pretty much new. It's a fresh start. Now that I have that aside, I'll begin with the story...

(Midtown High)

Dozens of teens walked around the campus of Midtown High, hanging out with their friends at lunch tables or by trees, talking about their personal issues and interests and how so many costumed figures ran about New York wildly. A particular one-of-a-kind group, Peter Parker, Johnny Storm, Bobby Drake, and Kurt Wagner sat on the steps to the hallway of Building C. These teens were anything but ordinary, both in their personalities and how strange it seemed for people so different as them to be going everywhere together in a group of friends, and that they possessed supernatural gifts rare amongst the people living in New York, let alone their age.

It all started months ago when Kurt began to wander away from his friends in a nervous manner. He would rush away from outside areas during lunches and breaks and frequently asked to go to the bathroom in class. Peter and Johnny thought this was really weird, but only Bobby failed to react in surprise, as if he understood the whole thing. Peter and Johnny thought about talking to Kurt, concerned of his strange nature and vanishing habits, but Bobby insisted that they leave him alone. Sooner or later Kurt came clean - he was a mutant, periodically turning blue and gaining pointy ears and a tail. He could disappear in thin air into another dimension and reappear wherever he wanted. Bobby explained that he and Kurt were given shelter at a mansion owned by Professor Charles Xavier, and Peter and Johnny swore not to tell anyone.

Soon after Johnny and Peter decided it was safe to reveal secrets that they, too, had kept away from each other - Peter had been the web-slinging Spider-Man, who could usually be seen patrolling Queens and southern Manhattan, unfailingly catching numerous petty criminals including the Ultimates and the Yancy Street Gang. Meanwhile, Johnny Storm had been parading as the Human Torch of the Fantastic Four, the flames that engulfed his body concealing his identity, plus that the leader Reed Richards had requested that the press wouldn't give him publicity. On their free time, when Bobby and Kurt were not busy working with the X-Men, and Johnny free from the partnering labors of his quartet, Peter would join the three of them as their vigilante alter egos and they would go on heroic searches for crime throughout Manhattan.

This bonded their friendship even closer, and in time, instead of Johnny swooning over hot rods he dreamed of buying and boasting about girls he'd flirt with, Peter excitedly reviewing technology or camera ware to his buddies or Bobby and Kurt talking about strange things they've seen at the X-Mansion or cool mutants they've met, they would all chatter over how fun it was to fight crime together and about various anecdotes or awesome things that would happen whenever they went together.

"Johnny, you didn't have to give that cat burglar a wedgie when I strung him to the pole," Peter remarked guffawing over the memory of last night.

"I couldn't help it - he looked so ditzy in that leather and I couldn't stand to hear him talking like he was so tough! So I made us the favor of showing him his true colors!"

"I mean, seriously, who wears polkadot boxers anymore?" Bobby added before they all laughed again.

Everybody stopped talking when Flash Thompson stormed up the steps, glaring right at Peter with a malicious smile on his face that meant nothing but trouble.

"Hey, Parker," he breathed menacingly, his posse standing behind him and giving the friends smug looks. "Looks like you're overdue for a swirly..."

Peter's face turned white, his blue eyes icy and vain in fear. Even though Peter once cleaned Flash's clock all across the hall and banged his head through his locker shortly after being bitten by a radioactive spider, and knowing he could do it again any day of the week, the memories of all the bullying and torment he'd given him before the birth of Spider-Man still intimidated him.

Johnny abruptly got to his feet and got in Flash's face. "You're looking a little _pissed_, Flash," Johnny remarked. "Leave the poor guy alone."

Those words made Flash cringe in embarrassment and his eyes flare in anger. Johnny once pulled a hysterical - and horrible - prank on Flash months ago; he snuck beer to him (with the aid of Kurt's mutant ability which he didn't yet understand) when Flash threatened to beat him up as a bribe, getting him drunk during school, and then putting plastic wrap over the bowl of the handicap toilet. With all cause and effect due, Flash had been showered in his own urine, and he burst into the lunch hall, demanding to know who did it, and became the laughing stock of the room.

Flash shoved Johnny back, who stumbled over two of the steps but maintained his balance when Flash said "You stay outta this, Storm -"

"Somebody piss in your cheerios?" Johnny interrupted. His friends, and even Flash's posse snickered, and with one look they all shut up.

The lunch bell rang, and Flash turned back to Peter, sighing grimly in disappointment. "Next time, Parker," he said, pointing right in Peter's face, and stormed off to class.

(Titans Tower)

Meanwhile Tim Drake sat on a sofa in the top floor of a huge tower sitting on an island next to a bridge, shaped like a T. He was searching in his laptop on several sites - the official sites of the Daily Planet and Daily Bugle. He skimmed the articles suspiciously, only to find writing about how Spider-Man or Superman saved this and this part of the city. Grunting in disappointment, he muttered to himself "It's got to be around here, close to Manhattan... Bruce said so," before typing in "Superhero conspiracies" on Google.

A tall, burly and muscular African teen with his body covered by robotic parts walked into the room, his footsteps booming loudly. "Find it yet?"

"No, Cyborg..." Suddenly Tim's eyes gleamed and his face perked up. "Where's Garfield?"

"He's sitting in his room, as usual... Waiting for me to finish his 'BB' game," he added with a groan. "You know, he's a fun guy, but he brags way too much," said Victor Stone.

Tim sneered "Yeah, as if I already didn't know that..."

"You know he doesn't like being called by his actual name," Victor added.

"I know, but I'm used to it... I always organize the databases and stuff..."

Victor patted his friend's shoulder. "Why don't you take a break from that thing? If I gotta say it then that's a mouthful..."

"No. I _have_ to keep searching..."

Victor sighed and started to walk away. "You always focus on catching the bad guy so much... Starfire's starting to get worried about you, " He said before going out the door.

At those last words Tim stopped. He sighed, and closed the laptop. "Starfire... It's gotta be so hard for her to adjust to the planet like this..."

"Then go talk to her, dude!"

Tim cried out in surprise, startled. A green boy dropped from the ceiling.

"Damn it, Beast Boy!"

BB shrugged. "It's my nature..."

"I'm not trying to put too much on manners but I'd prefer not to be eavesdropped on," Tim growled.

"Don't call me Garfield then! You've done that since I joined this thing... By the way, Starfire _is_ concerned about you..." He playfully elbowed Tim. "You know what? I think she _likes_ you..."

Tim blushed and look away, murmuring "Shut up..."

"She's always swooning over how heroic you are," Beast Boy motioned, "In her sleep she always goes 'Robin... Oh, Robin,'" he imitated in a high pitched girl's voice.

Tim got up and started storming off.

"Swing by her room! Or better yet, by her window, in the spandex Robinware - "

"Shut up, Beast Boy!" Tim barked before going out the door.

"Yes, he got it right!" BB shouted. 


	2. SpiderMan

(Midtown Quad)

Johnny whistled to himself while fiddling with his cell phone in the abandoned quad. The hush silence save for the rustling of leaves in the breeze and chirping of birds were his only company. He flipped through the numbers of various girls he met and examined their pictures, contemplating on which one he'd try to hit on next. He started hearing distant footsteps across the grass, and looked over to find his comrade, Peter.

"Ah, hey - you decide to do it yet?"

"What do you think I'm doing?"

"Woo!" Johnny rooted briefly as he watched Peter trail to the gate.

"Make sure Aunt May or no one else knows," he warned.

"Don't worry - I have so many credits I could graduate right now," Peter replied as he acrobatically hopped the fence. Before continuing to walk off, Peter looked back to his friend. "You coming?"

"Nah, not this time - Susie's gonna be pissed if she catches me ditching to save the world again…"

"How contradictory," Peter retorted jokingly. "You'd figure Reed's speeches should make her encourage you to put the city ahead of school…"

"Ah, you know Susie," Johnny added blankly with a tone of annoyance. "Always beating on how I'd do this or that to screw everything up…"

Peter shrugged, and continued to walk off. "See you later…"

Johnny nodded proudly that Peter had finally decided to ditch so he could protect the city, as Johnny had done many times before.

As soon as Peter was out of sight, one of Flash's cronies, John Allerdyce, walked into view from under a tree. "So the geek's finally decided to do it," he called sarcastically.

Johnny looked over to him and said "You know damn well you've done it more than twice as much as I have…"

"That's not the point," John A. replied aggressively as he approached the table. "You've got guts trying to stick it to Flash…"

"What? That overgrown Neanderthal that still pisses himself?"

"You think that's real funny, think twice when Flash turns your ass inside out…"

Johnny put away the cell phone and stared his nemesis in the eyes. "Listen, Flash has got nothing on any of us. I would know," he said before getting up and walking away.

(Middle of Queens, NY)

Peter slipped on the webbed mask and raised his hand to the nearest building. A huge clump of thick, rich organic webbing shot from his wrist and stuck itself to the window. Peter instinctively jumped off of the roof and began to soar through the air, swinging around the corner along his line of webbing. He shot another towards a hotel and let go the previous webline. Clad in his one and only Spider-Man costume, pedestrians stopped and stared into the sky to watch him swing across the city. Peter leaped gracefully from web to web like Tarzan to vines, pulling off twists and flips in the air.

Spider-Man shot another webline straight in front of him near the top of Fisk Industries. He let himself fall for about two seconds before yanking with all his might on the web, pulling it straight down before gravity forced itself to haul Spidey over the roof and beyond. He swung through the cities of Manhattan for about fifteen minutes until he reached his workplace - the Daily Bugle. He crawled through a vent on the roof all the way to the men's bathroom before changing back into Peter Parker and walking to the office.

There, Rob was waiting for him. "Ah, hi Pete… You're here pretty early," he noted with mild concern.

Peter shrugged and said "Uh… It was a minimum day," coming up with the best excuse he could.

"How's life treating ya?"

"Well, before I… Was going to go anywhere, I wanted to check and see if Mr. Jameson had any work for me…" A fax came out of Rob's printer, and when it finished he snatched it and held it to his eyes, adjusting his glasses. "You came right on time - J.J. has a big assignment that just came up. He said it's really important," Rob added. "Go ahead and drop by his office," and at that Peter walked to the door of J.J's dwelling.

He knocked abruptly, with no reply. After hesitating for a moment Peter opened the door and found J.J. at his desk, smoking a cigar as usual and laying his feet on the table lazily while staring at something in his hands.

"Parker! You took a day off of school for me? I'm flattered…"

Peter shrugged nervously. "Business is important, Mr. Jameson…"

"Ah, yes it is - anyways, we've just received word that Wilson Fisk is proposing a deal with Stark Industries. He's making announcement at Times Square, and employees from both companies are gonna be there - now get to it!"

(Outside, again)

Returning to the city skies, Spider-Man swung and continuously let himself fall to lower elevation. "Times Square is never to hard to find," he said to himself quietly, scanning the streets. Suddenly a familiar prick in the back of his neck spawned the instant that he grabbed hold of a window to Quest Aerospace. "That's never good…" he murmured before leaping six feet above the window. A helicopter burst into the spot Spider-Man once was, the propeller sticking and engine flaming. Screams emanated from the wall's opening and people in suits fled from their cubicles in horror. Spider-Man quickly scurried down to the spot and grunted as he strained to lift the helicopter from the place it was lodged in.

In six tense, pressure-filled seconds the chopper finally budged. Spider-Man tried to lift it out of the crevice through the wall, wedging at it's sides and when he felt his spider sense curl around his neck again, the chopper slipped from his hands. Spidey quickly shot two weblines onto the back of the chopper, straining to pull it back up, the lines retracting back into his arms as it lifted the chopper up. The tingle invaded his spine again when he looked out in front of him to see a pole flying straight for his face. Spidey leapt off the wall and it struck the glass, missing it's intended target.

Spider-Man quickly reeled the chopper back into his hands and, as gently as he could, placed it on the roof he found his feet on. Right as he set it down and was trying to remove his hands from it, his spider sense tingled once again and the pole struck him square on the back from it's side. Spider-Man reeled back and cried out in agony, holding his back and slowly turning around to find the perpetrator, a girl dressed in a black jumpsuit with grayish skin, pink hair and a wicked smile towards him - Jinx.


	3. Bad Luck Strikes

Spidey got to his feet, groaning about the strike to his back and still rubbing the wound. He stretched a little before getting in a defensive, crouching stance and glared at Jinx.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asked accusingly to the girl.

"Just having a little fun…" She said before snickering quietly.

"It won't be so fun when I knock you into next week," Spidey threatened, approaching her. Jinx's eyes began to glow a bright pink, and another pole ripped from the roof and sailed to Spidey. He caught it between his hands so that it wouldn't hit the chopper behind him, and tossed the pole to the edge of the roof.

Jinx started to lift the pole again when Spider-Man shot a ball of webbing to her face. It encased her head entirely, and she screamed in surprise on impact. Her complaints were muffled by the thick, sticky substance as Spider-Man leapt onto her shoulders, doing a handstand. He raised one briefly to shoot a web at the gaping hole in the building the chopper hit, shielding it so that nobody would fall out on accident. Jinx's hands glowed and Spidey's spider sense went off; he shoved Jinx down by the shoulders and leapt off as the propeller, ripped off the top of the chopper, came sailing and spinning towards where his arms were insanely fast.

Now that Spider-Man was distanced, Jinx peeled the webbing off of her head after struggling with it for a minute.

She gasped, and began to shriek "My hair!!! Look what you've done to my hair!!!"

"What're you complaining about? Personally, it looks better that way…" Jinx growled furiously before sending the propeller to him again, spinning like a fan. Spider-Man leaned back and ducked it Matrix style, causing it to impale the chopper. The two men inside howled in fear, frozen to their seats shakily. Spider-Man ripped it out of the chopper and broke the propeller in two by the middle on his knee.

"Quit playing with that god damn thing!" He yelled in annoyance.

Jinx smirked, and the broken pieces rose from the floor, spinning separately.

"Oh, crap," Spidey murmured as he dodged the pieces slashing towards him furiously. They cut at the walls of the chopper every time he dodged, causing the passengers to scream some more. Spider-Man shot a big net of webbing at Jinx, pinning her onto the ground. He then kicked the propellers so that it stuck the webbing in place.

The engine on the chopper was about to explode as the pilot yelped "HELP!!! HELP ME, SPIDER-MAN!!!" Spidey turned around and leapt through both doors of the helicopter, snatching the passengers as he did and falling over the edge. He shot a webline onto the corner of the roof as the chopper exploded violently.

Spider-Man broke a window on the building and placed the people inside. He then leapt to the rooftop on the charred, flaming spot where the chopper once was. He quickly webbed the flames, putting them out. Jinx used her powers to make the propeller pieces cut the webs, setting her free. She cackled menacingly as they circled her, then hurled them at Spidey as fast as bullets. He used his spider reflexes to dodge them as fast as they could, nearing the edge every time they soared back for him, then landing a backflip kick to Jinx's jaw at the edge. She was about to fall off when Spider-Man shot webs at her heels.

Jinx made the part of the edge Spider-Man was on fall off and they neared the street. Spider-Man tossed Jinx into the net of webbing he made to shield the building earlier. He then picked up the concrete from beneath his feet and set it on the sidewalk. Jinx struggled enough to make her fall off the net, but not for long, as Spider-Man caught her in mid-air and tied her up to a pole next to the street. Pedestrians stood and stared in awe, their mouths agape. Jinx tried to fight her confines, grunting and chanting "Let me go… Let me go, you jerk!"

Spider-Man looked to the crowd and asked, trying to sound polite "Could somebody please call the police on this young lady?" The crowd nodded in unison and he called "Great, thanks!" Before running across the street, shooting a webline and taking off into the sky.


	4. The Proposal

(Titan's Tower)

Tim paced around the room, looking back at the computer periodically. "This can't be right… Our enemies spreading to different cities… We'll need help," he kept thinking aloud.

"Man, we're pretty small… Only five of us," Victor commented.

Raven, who had been sitting on the couch quietly, suddenly said "Why don't you just recruit more?"

Tim froze. "… That's a good idea," he replied intrigued. "Only thing is that we're the only superheroes in this part of Manhattan…"

Beast Boy piped up. "Then let's put advertisements around the cities!"

Tim raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"You know, like, flyers, the kind of things people put when they lose their dog - "

"I know, Beast Boy," Tim interrupted. "It's just how could we attract superheroes that way when they have secret identities? Individual lives, dual roles?"

"He has a point," Victor added. "A lot of the kind of people we'd recruit may still be connected to school or something… We've gotta find a way to recruit without interfering," he noted.

"I have some ideas…" Tim said as he started to walk to his room.

(Times Square)

"Man, I can't believe this!" Johnny said, laughing as he beheld the flyer that read "JOIN THE TEEN TITANS!".

"It looks suspicious…" Kurt said shyly.

"Think about it," Johnny replied, "It says here they'll take care of everything… We'll have a place, food, the basics, and no school!!! How can it get more awesome?!?"

"It could certainly have more responsibility to it…" Bobby added in suspicion, stroking his chin hesitantly as he examined the flyer.

"What the heck do you mean? There's enough responsibility in being superheroes the way we already are!"

"No, I mean… It's like they're just pulling us out of the blue," said Bobby. "There's no kind of trial period or something where they like get us ready, it says they'll take us on the spot, and that would totally change our living conditions… I mean, think about it Johnny, if Peter wanted to join this thing how would he explain it to his aunt? How would he tell his teachers? Or even you, Johnny, what would you tell the group?"

Johnny shrugged. "It's better than being pushed around by Susie, Rocky and Captain Elastic up at the Baxter Building…"

Kurt sighed sheepishly. "A transition from the X-Mansion would be hard for me…"

Johnny shook his head doubtfully and gestured to the flyer. "C'mon, guys, they're desperate!!! It says right here that they REALLY need us!!!"

"No way, Johnny, it's too risky," Bobby said sternly. "I just can't say goodbye to all those great people who know us better -"

"You know what? SCREW the X-Mansion!!!" Johnny barked in frustration. "This is run by teens!!! T-E-E-N-S!!! Like us! You've seen how cool they are - "

"Calm down, Johnny," Bobby interrupted. Johnny looked away and ripped the flyer off the post when he saw Peter walking by. "Yo, Pete!!! Come have a look at this!!!"

"Damn it, just shut up, Johnny!" Kurt retorted.

Peter barely looked at the flyer and shoved away Johnny's hand.

"What the hell?!?"

"Sorry, Johnny, I'm in a hurry," he said, pointing to Times Square which was just ahead. "J.J.'s got a big job for me - "

"You know what, Pete? You work too damn hard!!! Take a load off, come with your friends!!!"

"But - "

"Damn it, Pete, when's the only time you ever see us? SCHOOL!!! And when we patrol, but when do we get to have _fun_? When do we get to relax, like go to a movie or something?"

Peter sighed and walked off. Johnny stood there gaping, before groaning in frustration and holding his forehead.

"Settle down, can't we talk about this later?" Bobby asked.

Peter shoved his way through the crowd and started taking pictures of Wilson Fisk and Tony Stark, who were both up on the stage, just now shaking hands. The crowd cheered after Fisk declared something in the microphone Peter couldn't make out. He took more pictures as Fisk smiled at them all before J.J. shoved him aside, catching Peter by surprise.

"What the hell are you doing?!?"

"Taking pictures, like you told me…"

"Damn it, Peter, it's been going on for twenty minutes!!! I needed you here the whole time, I don't care if you walked here, I mean it when I say pronto!!!"

"Maybe you should've brought a camera," Peter remarked under his breath.

Soon after, Peter rejoined the trio of friends who were arguing about the flyer.

"Yo, Pete! Change your mind?" Johnny asked cheerily.

"What is that thing anyways?"

Johnny handed him the flyer, and Peter studied it carefully. "… It sounds like a scam."

"Damn it, all of you are against me!!!" Johnny cried. "Can't we just check it out before saying no?"

"You know, it's worth a look," Peter said suddenly. "It's away from _this_ place…" He said in reference to the Daily Bugle.

"Great! Let's go!" Johnny said as he walked off. The rest of them stood there, watching him, before Peter looked back at his friends and asked "You _do_ have free time, don't you?"

(Later...)

"I respect your decision to leave the X-Mansion," Professor X said through the laptop Bobby was communicating to him with.

"Thanks, Professor," Bobby replied.

"Just remember that you are welcome back any time. And please, if you can before permanently staying there, drop by to say farewell to your friends."

Bobby smiled and nodded "We will, professor…" he closed the laptop and looked back to Kurt, then to Peter before shrugging and saying "I guess we'll do it…"

"Good. The only hard part about this is learning how to explain this to my aunt…"

Soon in their usual band of crimefighting, Spider-Man, Human Torch, Iceman and Nightcrawler took off, heading for the Titans Tower.


	5. The Meeting

More character introductions, all of which I don't own.

Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat (15 years old)  
Jubilation Lee/Jubilee (16 years old)  
Anna Marie/Rogue (14 years old)

Ben Grimm/The Thing (member of Fantastic Four)

(Next day, Titans Tower)

"So… You're offering us a room in this place and everything?" Spider-Man asked Robin as the Midtown High quartet and current Teen Titans sat across the couch from each other.

"Yeah, for as long as you're on the team…"

"We'll have foods, beds, the works…"

"And you can hang out with us," Victor added.

"Yeah! You can come with us whenever we eat pizza, or you can play our video games over there… Stuff like that…" chimed in Beast Boy.

Human Torch nodded. "That sounds pretty cool…"

"Oh, I almost forgot…" Bobby interrupted, "We have some more friends on the way, who wanted to come with us."

Suddenly speakers on the wall declared. "UNIDENTIFIED VISITORS APPROACHING TOP FLOOR. ACCESS APPROVED." The elevator opened, and Shadowcat, Rogue and Jubilee of the X-Men walked in.

"Ain't too late, is it?" Jubilee asked in her country accent.

"No, go ahead and sit down," offered Robin.

"Thanks for inviting us Bobby," Shadowcat called as the girls sat next to him and his friends.

"Don't thank me - thank the Titans," Iceman replied.

"That reminds me - there's no real need to conceal our identities around here. We trust our teammates." Tim told him.

"I see," Nightcrawler commented as he inspected the Titans in their costumes.

A door opened, and Starfire gently floated to the couch. "I am glad we didn't miss our visitors - welcome, friends!" She said cheerily. Spider-Man started staring at her, and Bobby looked to him understandingly.

After a moment of silence Robin raised his eyebrow and glared at him. "Is there a problem?"

Spidey seemed to snap out of his trance. "Oh, no, sorry, it's just… She reminds me of someone," he said, thinking of Mary Jane Watson back in Queens.

"Anyways, back to the point - are you ready to stay?"

Bobby nodded and motioned to Kurt and the girls "We're ready…"

Johnny raised his hand and called "Count me in!"

Bobby then looked to him and asked "You _did_ notify the Big Four already, didn't you?"

Johnny blushed embarrassedly and shrugged "Uh, kinda…"

Bobby sighed. "I'll let you talk to them later, but don't blame me if they don't let you stay…"

"What's wrong?" Asked Cyborg.

"We're all from previous teams," Bobby explained before motioning to Spider-Man "except for him…"

"Ah… So… _You'll_ be staying for sure?" Robin asked Spider-Man.

"Well, I don't know yet… I gotta… Detatch from my current life back in Queens before I can, but I'm sure they're ready right now…"

"But you're considering joining?" Robin probed.

Spider-Man sighed. "Give me some time to make sure everything's set… You can recruit them off the bat if you want, but can I have like two weeks?"

"Sure, no problem…"

Nightcrawler rose his hand. "Excuse me, but, what will we do about our schools?"

"All taken care of," said Cyborg. "We're notifying them that you're being emancipated by private organizations'…"

"Ah, good," Kurt said in relief.

"Well, it was nice meeting you all… I've gotta head off to take care of some business," Spider-Man said.

"Alright. Thanks for coming… So, what do we call you?" Robin asked as Spidey walked to the elevator.

"I figured it'd be kinda obvious, but Spider-Man's the name, crime fighting's my game…" he said posing before descending down the elevator.

"Please, let us give you a tour, newcomers…" Starfire said, motioning to the room as she started to float in the air.

(Titans Tower, Hallways)

"These are where your rooms are," Robin said. "Just notify the groups you came from and we'll take your stuff from there to here," he said, motioning to a hallway full of empty rooms behind the doors."

"… Just like that?" Asked Johnny.

"Dude, it's a piece of cake," piped BB. "We call, we get the stuff, it goes in here how you want it…"

Johnny smiled. "I'm gonna get along just fine with everyone," he commented.

"Good. Glad you're already liking the place," said Robin with a smile.

(Later...)

"You're kidding, right? Sue's gonna kill ya," the Thing said through the laptop to Johnny.

"So what? It's my life - I'll do what I want, I'll live where I want…"

The Thing shook his head and groaned in frustration. "Same ol' Johnny, always being a horse's ass… I should've guessed earlier that you couldn't stay put, not even in the same city…"

Johnny sighed and turned off the chat program.

"He'll be even more pissed if you just leave him like that," Bobby warned.

Johnny shrugged carelessly. "So what? Like he can do anything about it…" He said before opening a can of Coke and laying on the couch, flipping through the channels on the giant TV.

"Hey, Johnny - wanna play Tony Hawk's American Wasteland?" BB asked, motioning to the PS2.

Johnny chuckled. "I'll so whoop you, but if you want it, you got it," and they turned the game on.

"Annoying, aren't they?" Raven asked Nightcrawler, sitting beside him.

"He's usually arrogant like that, but don't worry, the rest of us won't bother you…"

"So how'd you get like that?"

"Like what?"

"You know… All blue and stuff," Raven said, blushing, "Sorry to be rude…"

"I'm a mutant," Kurt proclaimed in his German accent. "Don't worry - people usually think it's weird…"


	6. Getting Along

(AN: Just want to let you know that while it may seem OOC, I'm not trying to make Raven look like a slut!!! Please keep that in mind.)

(Titans Tower, Living Room)

Johnny and BB were tapping their thumbs at the controller wildly, free skating on the "Tony Hawk's American Wasteland" video game. BB had a good laugh over Johnny using Create-A-Skater mode to imitate the Hulk, but in skimpy clothes. BB laughed when Johnny made the Hulk bail with a pole between his legs.

"Raugh," Johnny playfully called in a fake, buff voice, "Hulk sprain crotch!!!"

BB cackled hysterically, laughing so hard his eyes were watering. His fumbling with the controller and lack of breath made his character mess up.

"You know, that's really not funny, Johnny," Jubilee scolded in annoyance.

"Tell me about it," murmured Raven as she rolled her eyes.

Kurt placed a hand on her shoulder. "I apologize," he said. "I do not wish to make you suffer watching them…"

Raven closed her book and looked at Kurt. "Wanna go somewhere else?" She asked him with interest.

Kurt, caught by surprise, winced shyly and paused with a lack of words. "S-sure," he stammered nervously.

"Great, let's go to my room," Raven said as if she was excited and she grabbed his hand and led him down the hall.

BB took his attention off the game and watched Raven flee from the room. "Oooooh," he said. "She better not be banging him, or Robin's gonna be pissed…"

Johnny guffawed in reply. "C'mon! Think about it - Kurt gets laid as soon as Hell freezes over…"

BB laughed. "You got a point!"

"Like _you're_ any more attractive, _Garfield_," Jubilee remarked. BB's ears lowered and he looked down like he felt sorry for himself.

"Don't listen to her, she's just jealous cause she can't get her hands on _me_," Johnny said playfully. BB laughed again, and Jubilee, scoffing in annoyance, came up and smacked Johnny upside the head so hard he dropped the controller.

(Titans Tower, Kitchen)

Bobby poured himself a glass of milk from the kitchen.

"So… What group do you guys come from?" Tim asked, his Robin eyemask removed.

"The X-Men," Bobby replied before taking a sip.

"Who're they?" he asked curiously.

"A group of mutants that live in Westchester,"

"Ah…"

"We're assembled by Professor Charles Xavier…"

"I know him! I've read about him," Tim perked.

"Cool guy, isn't he?"

"Yeah… amazing…"

(Raven's Room)

Raven was putting on lipstick while looking in her mirror, sitting cross-legged on the bed. Kurt sat opposite of her, his tail wrapped around the bedpost. "What's your name?" He asked her sheepishly.

"Raven…"

"Ah… That's pretty," replied Kurt.

"Thanks…" When Raven finished, she put away her stuff and looked at Kurt, kicking her legs out and swinging them back and forth of the bed. "So, what about you?"

"Well, my name is Kurt… Kurt Wagner… The X-Men called me Nightcrawler…"

"What do you do?"

"I teleport…"

"No, I mean, what do you _do_?"

"Oh…" Kurt said embarrassedly. "Well… I don't really do anything… Before that it was go to school, stay at the X-Mansion… I never really had any friends," he said, looking down sadly with his gleaming yellow eyes.

"Well, the others seem to know you pretty well…"

Kurt shrugged. "They don't know _that_ much about me…"

Raven nodded empathetically. "I know the feeling…"

Kurt looked at her bookshelf, completely stacked. "You like reading?"

"Kinda…" Raven said slowly.

"I do, a little," Kurt replied. "I like to read philosophy… I was raised in a church, and while I did everything was about bibles or holy preachings, but I wanted to find my own life…"

Raven stared at Kurt in genuine interest. Her eyes showed a feeling of understanding.

"I have a few hobbies, but everyone thinks they're boring…" Kurt looked away.

Raven put her hand on his lap and stared into his eyes. "Tell me," she insisted.

"What?" he croaked sheepishly. "Well… Um… I practice swordplay… With various blades… Katanas, scimitars, rapiers, spaniards… A couple of hours a day… I like to read, but I don't know if I read the same books as you do…"

"I read books about black magick, witchcraft, tarots, runes…" Raven listed off. "Still, I think you read some books that I'd like," she added.

"… Have you ever heard of Hermann Hesse?" Kurt asked.

"No…"

"He wrote one of my favorite books… It's called Demian'," he explained. "In the book there's this boy who goes to a religious school… But he's different from everyone else… He seeks alternative ways to live, ways that he can express his true feelings and not be spurned for it… He studies the behavior of mankind, and learns to heed their mistakes so they don't become his own…"

"How intriguing… Poetic… I like it," Raven commented.

"My favorite aspect of the book is that it's so real… You can read it, read it how he sees the world, and you'll realize that that same world becomes yours…"

Raven sat entranced, envisioning Kurt's words. She could tell even after knowing him for only five minutes that they had much in common, that they understood each other. "Tell you what," she said. "If any of the Titans, anyone staying over here bothers you, or you feel lonely… Come here…"

"Th-thank you," Kurt stuttered shyly.

"You're always welcome here… Always welcome to me," she said softly, gently rubbing his thigh, leaning over and looking in his eyes. If he were not blue at the time, Kurt's bashful face would've been blushing madly.


	7. Spidey's Dillemma

(Parker Residence, Queens)

Peter sighed as he walked into his house in Queens. Aunt May sat on the leather armchair, knitting and watching the History Channel. "Hey, Aunt May..."

"Hello, Peter," May welcomed. "How are you?"

"Well, I've got some big news..." He tried to swallow the nervous lump in his throat and took a slow, gentle seat next to his aunt. "I... Just got this opportunity, from my accomplishments at school... To live on my own..."

His aunt looked at Peter, confused and suspicious. "What do you mean?"

"Emancipation..."

Suddenly her face turned sad, and she lifelessly set the knitting equipment on the coffee table, leaning over to her nephew and hugging him.

"Oh, Peter..." she said in a worried and rueful tone, "You _really_ don't want to leave your poor old aunt all alone, don't you?"

A cold wave of guilt and sadness ran down Peter's spine. "... No... But this is really important to me..."

May sniffled, her eyes all teary as the roved over to the picture of Peter's deceased Uncle Ben on the nightstand. "When your Uncle Ben died, I didn't know how I would carry on... But... If this really means that much to you, I'll let you do what you want with your life..." She slowly released Peter and they both sat back, staring at each other. "Just be careful... He always wanted the best for you..."

Peter swallowed another nervous fit in his throat and nodded slowly. In a minute he headed upstairs to pack his things.

(Peter's Room)

There was his laptop, his collection of awards given to him at Midtown High, his spare Spider-Man costumes, pictures of his friend Harry Osborne, pictures of Uncle Ben... He stopped and sighed to himself. Peter's eyelids bubbled with silent, slow tears sliding down his cheek as he stared at the last picture, his six year old birthday when Uncle Ben had given him a baseball mitt. His heart wrenched even more when he packed that one away to find pictures of Mary Jane. She was a girl who always lived nextdoor to him, and they would play as children and talk and spend time together in middle school. Though Peter always had an immense secret crush on her and had taken her to movies and concerts a couple of times, they never went out, and began to socially detatch when they started going to Midtown High.

He even saw Flash Thompson attempting to hit on her and bragging about how she would be all over him when he had the chance, which only worsened Peter's self-confidence in winning over her heart. Soon he couldn't take anymore and shoved the rest of his stuff in his backpack without looking, carelessly rummaging through his stuff, preoccupied with sobbing and thinking over what he was leaving behind, family, friends, and dreams that were always important to him, but never to be fulfilled. Mary Jane had always made him feel like he wasn't an outcast, that he mattered - not in the way Johnny or Bobby or Kurt would spend time with him so that he wasn't alone, but that he could actually achieve those dreams that meant so much to him. She always told him that he could do whatever he wanted if he believed in himself. Of course this seemed a cliche phrase whenever he saw movies or saw how social workers and daycare people would talk to little kids, but the way she said it, knowing how much she had proven she cares about how he feels, showing how much it all really mattered, how many times she had been through, truly brought these words to life.

He began to cry silently as he changed into Spider-Man under the roof of the Parker house for the last time, hauled on the backpack and got ready to climb out his open window, a lonely, icy breeze calling to him and a dark, starless night that gave him the feeling it had erased his place in the world. He leapt out with little effort to a tree across his backyard, and looked at the Watson's house across the street. MJ's window was still illuminated by the light in her room, and for what seemed like no reason but speculated symbolism, this was the only thing keeping Peter's heart warm, what was the only thing immortalizing Peter's hope that someday she would fall for him. He was about to sail off into the night, remembering how many moonlit hours he spent accompanied only by the echo of his weblines, when without what seemed to be a second thought or hesitation instead leapt into MJ's backyard. Between two trees, he tethered a message between them in a thick and wide net of web spelling in enormous letters, "I LOVE YOU MARY JANE".

The glow of her window stuck in his mind as Spider-Man sighed, his feet planted firmly in the lawn as he prepared to leave his hometown of Queens forever. Mary Jane, who had been busy putting on her makeup earlier, noticed the webbing out by the trees, and her silhouette from out the window cast a shadow over Spider-Man before he leapt away and swung along the telephone poles, apparently failing to notice her presence. Mary Jane stood in awe at her window, staring into the message that her secret admirer had engraved for her.

(Next Day)

The next morning Peter Parker furiously burst into the Daily Bugle office. He stormed along the hall as Rob scurried up to him and said "Hi, Pete, I get the vibe you're looking for work, but J.J. is real busy - "

"I need to talk to him now," Peter hissed in a grim, resentful voice. Rob froze to his place as Peter walked head on to the door of Mr. Jameson and came in. Minutes later, he came out covered in J.J.'s breakfast - half of an unfinished donut smashed into his hair and coffee spilt all over his head and shirt, but with a sense of pride. Peter Parker had quit.

(Atop Daily Bugle)

As soon as he slipped the mask back on, Spider-Man traveled along his webs as fast as he could, hellbent on reaching his new home, the Titans Tower. 


	8. Raven and Nightcrawler

(Raven's Room)

Meanwhile last night, Kurt and Raven were mesmerized by each other. They exchanged various personal secrets and hidden interests that they felt they couldn't talk about to anyone else, and felt as if they truly understood each other.

"Well... I come from this mystical place called Azarath..." Raven explained. She sighed sadly, looking down onto her covers. "I was banished from it because my father was a powerful leader of the Netherrealm..."

"Where's that?"

"Most people call it Hell," she said.

"Oh...What about this father of yours?"

"His name is... Trigon," Raven winced as she recalled it. "He wants to use me as a gateway to getting into this world, since holy forces currently keep him from reigning terror..."

Kurt empathetically took Raven's hand. "I abandoned all belief of dogmatic good and evil forces long ago, but I, too, still have my personal demons..."

Raven looked away sadly. "Yours may not have been able to bring armaggeddon..."

"To my beliefs, perhaps, for my life anyways... Look at me," Kurt said softly as he put his fingers under Raven's chin and gently moved her teary-eyed face parallel to his. "You might have heard this before, but it's not your fault... If you feel guilty because you are his spawn and he intends to manipulate your potential for his gain, you don't have to... I can tell you are unwilling to do so, that you have no bad intentions, but you can't help but bring about misery for your biological nature..."

Raven was entranced by Kurt's wisdom and understanding of her life's situation.

"You may feel hopeless, you may want to give in and never bother in fear that every effort will always turn on you, but with enough perseverance, you can control your fate... I can tell it must be agonizing to great limits... I can only imagine how much it hurts to carry a burden that not only lives to hurt you restlessly, spending endless nights awake wondering how you can stop it, but I believe that you can do it... I will be here for you, whenever you need it..."

Raven started to sob. She shakily took a deep breath and hugged her new friend tightly close to her "Oh, Kurt... You have no idea how much this means to me..." Kurt soothingly rubbed her back, nodding in sympathy, saddened by her pain. "Every time I try to talk to Robin or anyone else about it they think that it's not going to happen..." She said, wiping away her tears. "They don't take it seriously, they don't understand... And they try to cheer me up with stupid things, like throwing me parties or taking me places, stupid, fake, happy things... They do it when they don't even understand how I feel..."

Raven kept sobbing on Kurt's shoulder so much that it dampened his clothes. "And when I try to explain... When I get mad and say that's not what I want or need, they talk about how they're trying to be such great friends, that I should at least appreciate that they went through all the effort to do what they did... And then I feel worse..." Raven's face, sticky with her warm tears pressing against Kurt shook as she sniffled between sobs.

Kurt patted her back softly. "They may have good intentions, but you truly don't know someone until you listen... They're all so focused on thinking about what they would do when they don't even know how it would feel... Even if they're in the same situation, you could be feeling hopeless and guilty and misunderstood and burdened and they could be feeling something completely different..."

Raven hugged Kurt closer to her, her chest pressing against his. Kurt blushed a little, his would-be flushed cheeks shielded by his blue pigment. His eyes resting on Raven's shaky body that heaved whenever she inhaled to sob some more. "I don't feel alone anymore... You're truly the only person who's ever cared, who's ever understood or even tried to listen... Yet in the past, whenever I cried out for help, whenever I was upset and really needed someone they all left me in the dark... I don't know what I would do or what would even happen to me right now if I never found you, Kurt..."

She moved back a little and stared up at Kurt's face, sniffling. They gazed deep into each other's eyes. Raven's heart, warmed with affection coursed it's sensation throughout her entire body as her hands embraced Kurt, welcoming their friendship and what she hoped would be a loving future. Kurt could feel her appreciative feelings surging to him, and they held each other and stared into their eyes trapped in intimacy. They kept gently stroking each other, silent in close relation, but neither gathering the courage to admit their feelings or steal the first kiss. 


	9. Living Adjustments

(Titans Tower, Living Room)

BB and Johnny had spent the night playing various games and talking about how hot this girl was or how cool or funny that movie was, though it really annoyed Tim (since he was used to enforcing the concept that a superhero needs sleep so that they can fight just as well during the day, even though he spent most of his nights studying mysteries).

"BB, whaddya think about that girl Starfire?" Johnny asked inbetween crunchy bites, stuffing puffed Cheetos into his mouth as he fumbled with the controller.

"Oh, her? She's cool... She's been around for a little longer than all of you have, one of the first to join us..."

"Ain't she so damn hot though?"

BB winced. "I never really thought about her like that..."

"C'mon, man! You gotta admit - she's fine... I'd ask her out any day of my life, right here, right now!" Johnny declared, and BB started getting defensive.

"Dude, she's my friend. I don't think about her like that, that's gross."

"Don't be ashamed to do it, man, it's not like you're touching her! Just allow yourself to look, if you get the chance, I really don't think she'd mind..."

"Dude, just shut up... You're filling my head with nasty things..."

Johnny leaned over to whisper in his ear - "It's called 'puberty' and 'growing up'... Get used to it."

Johnny flinched and toppled over the couch when BB hurled the controller at him. "That's gross!"

Coincidentally, Starfire walked into the room right then, humming to herself as she floated towards the kitchen for breakfast.

"Don't you dare say a thing," BB growled to Johnny under his breath.

With that malicious you-shouldn't-have smile that only Johnny could pull off, he leaned over and called "Hey, Star!"

She turned around and stopped to look at him. "Yes, newcomer, do you find everything alright?"

"I just wanted to say, you're a nice girl, with a nice rack!" Johnny tried his best to hold back his snickering. If it were anyone else BB would probably be laughing to but this time he punched him hard in the ribs.

"Ow! Damn," Johnny whispered to BB scoldingly.

"... Nice... Rack? What does that mean, Beast Boy?"

Feeling too embarrassed to explain it, BB simply said "It's... Um... A boy of Earth's way of saying that they're beautiful..."

Starfire's eyes beamed happily and a huge grin crawled onto her face. "Why, thank you, Johnny!" she praised and floated happily into the kitchen door.

"C'mon, you gotta at least let yourself do it once!"

"NO!" BB demanded.

"She's just your _friend_. I'd do it to my sister if we weren't related..."

The first thing that came to BB's mind was commenting on how gross he thought that was, but instead he went "AHA! You can't do it to your sister because you're family! It's the same for me and Starfire..."

Johnny scoffed. "I can't really see you two being related, but I can understand the part about the team - "

"The family _is_ the team, Johnny," BB proclaimed proudly.

Johnny pretended the best he could to mock sniffling. "Oh, I'm so touched," he swooned fakely as he put his hand over his heart.

BB rolled his eyes and punched Johnny's shoulder. They soon returned to playing games on an Xbox 360.

(Titans Tower, Kitchen)

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Robin, Cyborg and Rogue were talking just as Starfire arrived.

"Friends, I am here!" Starfire announced cheerily as she floated into the seat next to Robin, who was readying himself a bowl of Cheerios.

"Um... Hi," Rogue said softly.

"Hello, new friend! And what is your name?" Starfire asked.

"... Rogue..."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "Why do they call you that?"

"Well... I touch someone... And they get hurt..."

Cyborg chuckled to himself. "Alright, tough girl, there's no need to be bragging about it..."

"No... I mean it... Whenever I touch someone, like touch them in any way at all, I sap their life and their powers from them..." Rogue explained as she held up the gloves she was wearing. The three vet Titans stared at her.

"Please, do not burden yourself with such ego-injuring convictions..." Starfire said in a concerned tone as she reached over to give Rogue a hug. Rogue had forgotten to put on a coat or sweatshirt, so her arms were exposed. She tried to warn Starfire not to, but it was too late.

The friendly Tamaranian had wrapped her arms fully around her, holding her tight with her huge strenght. Rogue flinched at the pain in her back and started whispering "No... No," as Starfire's veins got closer to her skin, energy sapped from one girl to the other.

"Friend... I don't... Feel... So... Good..." Starfire grumbled progressingly weaker as she fell down.

Rogue gasped, her hands to her mouth, chanting "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." Robin scuffled out of his chair as fast as he could and tried to help Starfire up and make sure she was okay.

"It's alright. We didn't think you were serious," said Cyborg.

Rogue sighed sadly, shaking in her chair as her eyes watered. "No one does... Not when they first meet me..."

(Titans Tower)

Later that morning around ten, Spider-Man had came back with his backpack handy. He swung to the top of the Titans Tower and entered the main room from the stairways that led to the helicopter pad.

"Hey, Peter! You came back!" Johnny declared happily as he hopped over the couch and ran to Spidey, giving him a high five. "Webhead's decided to stay, huh?"

"Well... Yeah, I guess,"

"C'mon, come play some games with me and Beast Boy!"

Spider-Man shrugged uneasily and said "... I'm probably just... Gonna watch..." And shot a webline to the ceiling so he could hang upside down from it, like he did whenever he was bored or was thinking hard out on patrol.

As soon as Rogue, Robin, Cyborg and Starfire left the kitchen and noticed Spider-Man, they stopped to look back at Johnny and BB.

"Watch the ceiling," Cyborg warned Spidey.

"It'll be alright," he reassured him.

Robin walked up to him next and asked "You want me to help you with your bag?"

"Nah, I'll get it..."

Rogue had silently left to her room unnoticed. BB punched his fist in the air victoriously. "Yes! Eat dirt, Johnny!"

"Shit, you had to be cheating! I've played this _thousands_ more times than you have!"

Cyborg chuckled. "Pretty mature group, huh?"

Spidey nodded. "You get used to Johnny after a while, though..."

(Raven's Room)

Raven woke up gradually. She still felt very exhausted, and was still wrapped around the blankets and covers. As soon as she opened her eyes she silently prayed that meeting Kurt wasn't all some kind of impossible dream. She started to stretch and yawn a little, getting the kinks out of her neck by rolling her head with the little pops, and then nearly jumped out of her skin in surprise. Kurt sat there on the bedpost, squatting at the knees as if he were weightless to the bed.

"... You stayed in my room all night?"

"Well, yeah..."

"Why?"

"In case you had a bad dream or something... You know, so I could comfort you..."

"Aw... That's sweet," said Raven as she slowly got up and put her cloak around her. "Why don't we go get breakfast?" She asked as she took his hand.

"Sure," Kurt said with a nod, and together they walked out of her room and down the hall.

"I want to thank you for last night... It feels really good talking to you," Raven said.

"Any time. Any time at all... I like listening to you... It makes me feel good about myself..." As soon as they entered the main room, and Shadowcat and Jubilee who had woken up later saw them, they got really curious.

"Aww, Kurt, you two would make such a cute couple..."

"Yeah, well, we're on our way there," Raven said with an unusually bright attitude.

Even Cyborg was confused. He ran up going "Whoa whoa whoa whoa, whoa," gesturing to the two. "Raven... and Nightcrawler?"

The two of them nodded in unison.

"You're going out?"

Kurt shrugged embarrassedly. "Well... Um... Kinda..."

"Like I said, we're a work in progress," Raven spoke for him. 


	10. Morning Hassle

(Titans Tower, Robin's Study)

Tim kept working away at his laptop in an endless search for what would help the Titans get to action for a good cause. It seemed that so many adult superheroes had already covered the case - Tim's teacher, Batman, was preoccupied with continuously foiling the Joker and Mr. Freeze, Daredevil was trying to halt assassinations in Hell's Kitchen, and -

"Hey! What's up?" BB popped up. Tim flinched and jumped back in his chair, startled, the laptop bouncing on his thighs. He glared at his annoying teammate.

"You _really_ need to stop doing that," Tim scolded. 

"Yeah, but Spider-Man does that all the time!" BB complained in reply.

"But Spider-Man doesn't go pulling pranks on the whole tower or hitting on girls whenever we patrol or just plain be immature."

"What is Human Torch?" Johnny broke in, walking into the conversation and grinning maliciously. "BING BING BING! We have a winner," he continued to comment to the theme of the Jeapordy. BB laughed some more before Johnny put his arm around Tim and said "C'mon, give Mr. Green a break! How about we just chill and hang out at a movie or something?" 

Tim tried his hardest to restrain from punching Johnny in the face or something worse, and instead just said "Are you hitting on me?"

BB was laughing hysterically now, wildly kicking and rolling on the floor. Johnny's expression turned upset and he jabbed Tim's shoulder quickly. "I'm just saying, can you take a break from all the leader crap? Take a load off! Everybody needs a break! Hell, even Spider-Man takes time off with me, don't ya buddy?" Johnny looked around, but Peter was no longer in the room.

(Peter's New Room)  
He sat in his bedroom staring at the photos he had packed, his mask sitting beside him on the covers. Suddenly he felt someone poke him on the shoulder. Peter expected to be warned, but saw there was no need for his spider sense when it was only Shadowcat standing in his room.

"Don't you ever knock?" he asked playfully as he set down the pictures.

Kitty shrugged. "Occasionally, but where's the fun in that?"

"You probably get in on all the good conversations, don't you?"

"No, that's more like Kurt's reputation..."

Peter sighed, and sat on the side of his bed facing Kitty. 

"Okay. So what's the big deal?"

"Everybody's been noticing that you seem really... Upset, Pete... You should calm down, come have fun with our new team..."

Peter sighed nonchalantly nodding his head "I know, I know..." he grumbled.

"Then why have you just shut yourself in your room ever since you've been here?"

Peter winced, afraid to confess what's been bothering him. A moment later he gestured to the photos and said "It's been hard for me to leave my life back in Queens behind..."

"Oh, Peter... I'm sure they miss you too, but at least you're surrounded by friends, right?" 

Peter started to get up and pull the mask back on when Kitty tried to make him stay, and Peter just said "Look, thanks for the concern. I know you wanna be there for me and stuff and yeah, this is a great place, with great people. But I need some time to myself to sort this out. It gets on my mind, and my mind only - no one else's."

He continued walking away when Kitty softly called to him, "Peter..."

He turned around and stared back at her. "What?"

Suddenly blushing and embarrassed because she couldn't think of something to say, Kitty admitted "You look cute with your mask off."

Peter just stood there and stared at her blankly for an awkward moment, shook his head lightly and then walked off. Kitty watched him the whole way, then, sad and alone, disappeared into the floor.

(Titans Tower, Living Room)

Dressed in full Spidey attire, Peter walked into the main room where, by now, BB and Johnny had returned to playing video games. This time it was Halo 2.

"C'mon... C'mon, dammit!" Johnny growled through gritted teeth in frustration.

"Johnny, please, take a load off on that thing. You already kicked up Reed's bill at the Baxter Building more than he spends on tech by shooting fake aliens."

"Aren't you supposed to be the nerd?!?" Johnny barked in reply, his eyes glued to the screen.

"It takes one to know one," and with that Peter walked into the kitchen.

(Titan's Tower, Kitchen)

Tim had fixed pancakes, bacon and eggs, laying separate dishes in front of his friends. Peter joined the group and took his seat beside Cyborg, Starfire, Kurt, Raven, Jubilee and Rogue who were waiting for Tim to finish.

"Hey, Spidey - here's your plate," Tim declared as he set the food he fixed by hand in front of him.

"Eh, you gonna eat with that thing on?" Cyborg probed, gesturing to his mask.

"Please, mind my manners," Peter said sarcastically as he lifted the mask from the bottom enough to expose his mouth. They all started to carve into the pancakes and eat their bacon.

Starfire was struggling with her silverware. She didn't yet fully understand how to use it mannerly as people did on Earth.

"Here, let me help you with those," Tim offered as he took her hands from behind. He made Starfire stick her fork in the middle and run the knife through the middle crevice, diving the three layers of pancakes into eights. "You do it like this," Tim explained, showing her how he placed the fork in different positions in the middle so he could cut at all the angles. He raised the hand holding the fork when he was done and said "Then you use this to pick it up," he demonstrated by jabbing the fork into one of the cuts.

"Thank you, Robin," Starfire praised as she stuck the piece in her mouth and continued to eat. Tim smiled, feeling a sense of accomplishment. He was about to sit down, when looking over everyone but Kurt, Raven (the two were whispering things and passing notes between bites) and Cyborg were staring at Starfire and himself.

Tim raised an eyebrow. "Don't you think that's rude?"

"Calm down, Rob," Cyborg suggested. "They don't know she comes from Tamaran."

"Tamaran?" Spider-Man chimed in curiosity.

"It's another planet," Robin explained.

"Oh... Sorry," he said, as he and the rest of the girls returned to their food embarrassed.

(Titans Tower, Living Room)

Johnny grunted angrily at the game. When he and BB lost, he raised his hands into the air with a cry of anger and slammed the controller on the couch.

"Dude, it's just a game! Calm down," said BB.

"Shut up! It's a cheap game! Just quit telling me what to do, damn!!! Nobody can stop bossing me - "

"Oh god, Johnny, won't _you_ ever shut up?" Jubilee broke in. Johnny looked over at her furiously, and raised his hand, which enveloped in flames.

"Whoa!!!" BB cried in both astonishment and shock, flinching in fear. Jubilee stood staring at him, mouth agape in fear and disbelief.

Suddenly realizing what he was doing, Johnny sighed, and withdrew the fire from his hand back into his body. He walked off slowly with his head hung low.

"Grow up, Johnny," Jubilee lectured to him. "And while you're at it, get a life - the world's all fun and games to you! You have the responsibility of a hero and you can't even face that!"

Johnny stopped at the open elevator door. "... Maybe I would listen and 'change for the better' if you'd QUIT GIVING ME SHIT?!?" he yelled before disappearing into the elevator. BB kept watching the spot he last saw Johnny at, even after the elevator had long taken him away, and Jubilee slowly shook her head, her eyes tense and peak in annoyance and lips pouted in anger. 


	11. After Breakfast

(Titans Tower, Living Room)

Rogue sighed sadly as she watched everyone from across the couch. She was sitting by herself. BB was playing games still when Victor came up to him. BB asked him to join in, but Victor protested that they should watch TV instead since there were other people in the room and that videogames weren't in their interest. Raven would usually be spending her time in this conversation agreeing with Victor and adding onto his point, but she was too busy talking to Kurt to really even care. They were whispering things to each other and giggling and cuddling affectionately, their arms around each other.

Jubilee was the only one who seemed to notice her. Reading her familiar facial expression of passive loneliness, she sat beside her friend and cooed "Aw, honey, what's the matter?"

"Nobody understands me here..." Rogue murmured apathetically in reply.

"They're just not used to you the way you are... I know it's probably hard to be yourself at this point with all the social pressure, but hang in there sweety, okay? They'll learn to warm up to ya..." Jubilee's encouragements may have been heartwarming and worthwhile to any other X-Man, but Rogue just ignored her, staring off into space coldly.

Robin was really the only other one keeping to himself. He was still glued to his laptop, searching for a cause that the Titans could lend a hand to. They'd almost never been notified on a call for help, and all breaking news involving crimes or disaster were resolved before they could ever arrive. He skimmed any interesting text he found on the search engines, but none were giving light to a hero's calling. Starfire hovered into the room and gently placed herself on the couch, seated next to her leader and friend.

"Good morning, Robin... What are you entertaining yourself with?"

"I'm searching," he replied blankly.

"What is it that you are searching for?"

"Something we can do..."

"But there are plenty of things to do in the Tower! Beast Boy has his games, and we have movies, or the music or the television - "

"No, Starfire, I mean something that we can help somebody with."

"Oh..." She watched him type away in pursuit of whatever information needed to get the Titans in action. Beast Boy pouted and finally changed the TV to it's regular function, and Victor peeked across the couch to watch them. He decided to move across the space so he could sit with them.

(Later)

"Please, honey... I know it bothers you, but sooner or later you're gonna have to accept how it feels to live here..." Jubilee was still struggling to cheer up Rogue.

"It's no better than the X-Mansion..." the sound of her voice was so depressing that Jubilee herself felt the chill that constantly invaded Rogue's mind.

Suddenly, Bobby stepped into the room. He looked around before asking "Anybody seen Johnny?"

Jubilee looked over to him. "You mean Mr. Tissy Fit? Stormed outta the room a couple of minutes ago," she replied.

"I'm gonna go look for him..." Bobby declared as he walked to the elevator.

"Watch it, he almost smote us with his big bad fire," Jubilee warned. "And when you see him, give him a piece of my mind, will ya?"

Bobby sighed. "You know how Johnny gets," he told her. "I'm worried about him..."

"Oh, shut up! He's only a big baby, Bobby, he'll be just fine!"

Bobby turned around and pointed to her. "Look, I know it's annoying, the stuff he does, but he's gotta have someone hang around him when he needs to cool off!"

BB scoffed as he heard this.

"I didn't mean it like that," Bobby said, sighing. "Anyways, he really needs his friends around..."

"Whoever said he deserved good friends?!?" Jubilee snapped.

"Okay, he gets on your nerves - _a lot_ - but if you keep preaching to him about this and that, it'll be even worse. That's it, point made. I'm out to find him, and that's final..."

With that, Bobby stepped into the elevator and descended down the floors. Jubilee rolled her eyes and returned her attention to Rogue, who was staring down at the smooth carpet. She continued to advise her on a brighter attitude with no real progress as Cyborg started asking Robin about the bills for the Tower.

"We're kind of running low on our stock and things... We can't keep things up as good. I really don't get it - shouldn't we be able to make enough to support the twelve of us and more through protecting NY?"

"That's the thing - we haven't stopped any dangers lately," Robin answered. "When we don't come to the rescue in time, neither do our payments for the tower..."

Coincidentally, Peter walked into the room right at that moment. He sighed as he walked over to the couch and sat next to Kurt and Raven, then looked at Robin. "So, what's up?"

"We're having a money dilemma," he admitted grimly.

Peter paused and hesitated curiously. "What kind?"

"Basically, at this rate we can't support ourselves as well because we haven't kicked any butt or saved any lives..."

"Yes," Starfire broke in. "It looks like we can't earn such good food or watch as much TV when we are lacking in the whooping of butts..."

"I could help with a job," Peter chimed, and then remembered that he quit the Daily Bugle. He sighed and lowered his head into his hands. "I forgot... Nevermind..."

"What kinda job did you have, Spidey?" Cyborg asked.

"Well, I was a photographer - a real good one, at that... But I had to quit so I could join... Not that I'd want to go back to the place..."

Robin's eyes beamed. "It says here that the Daily Planet is in need of a photographer... You could fill in there, Spider-Man," he suggested.

Remembering how the journalists and editors of the Bugle and Planet competed restlessly, he asked "Where is the Daily Planet again?"

"Metropolis - just twelve miles north of here," Cyborg told him.

Peter smiled, then shrugged casually and said "I guess I'll do it."

"You're so sweet, Kurt..." Raven cooed softly in her friend's ear. "Thanks for spending so much time on me..."

"Anything for you," Kurt replied happily.

"Why don't I show you some of my books?" Raven asked.

"Sure, that would be nice..." They returned down the hall to Raven's room, arms resting on their shoulders as they eyed each other affectionately.

"There go the lovebirds," piped Beast Boy. "I wonder what color their children will be?"

"That's real rude, Garfield," Jubilee scolded.

"What?!? I'm just joking around..."

"It's about time Kurt found a girl... He's really needed to get out and do something, and now he has someone to do those things with..."

"Yeah, how wonderful," BB mumbled sarcastically. "And don't call me Garfield..."

"I don't see anything wrong with calling you by your birth name!" Jubilee yelled.

"It would be nice to call me what I wanna go by," Beast Boy growled in reply.

"But that's just stupid!!! Who wants a name like Beast Boy?!?"

BB glared at her menacingly. "Johnny was right... You are a whore," he remarked as he headed for his room.

Jubilee gaped in anger. "You get back here! Quit spending time around a scumbag like Johnny!"

"Both of ya, SHUT UP!!!" Cyborg barked.

Robin sighed in annoyance. "I can tell we're all going to get along _just fine_..."

"Actually, progression is going kind of slow, Robin," Starfire noted.

"I was being sarcastic, Star." 


	12. Venting

Just as Bobby expected, Johnny was at his favorite hangout place, a pizza parlor in the heart of Manhattan. He sat by himself with no food, staring out the window. Johnny's face was no longer cheery and lively, like whenever he'd hang out with Bobby and the others or when flirting with girls, but troubled and frustrated. Bobby could tell by the look in his eyes that he kept thinking about what Jubilee said to him, and every other time she criticized his habits and lifestyle when he'd visit Bobby and Kurt at the X-Mansion. He took a seat next to his comrade and put a hand on his shoulder to let him know he was there. Johnny hopped for a second and looked aside furiously, then calmed down when he saw who it was, sighing in exhaustion and stress.

"I'm sorry, Johnny," said Bobby. "I didn't mean to startle you like that... Just wanted to make sure you're okay."

"I'll be fine... Just need to sit here for a couple more hours," Johnny grumbled nonchalantly.

"That Jubilee can be a bitch if she wants to, huh?"

"You're telling me," Johnny scoffed.

"Well, she's had her hassles with me, too... When I first started going to the X-Mansion, I was totally confused. She'd come up to me all friendly, wanting to get to know me and then _boom!_, she starts going off on so many things she doesn't like about me that don't even make sense."

"It's like the only people in the world she won't flip out on are her girlfriends..." Johnny trailed off.

"C'mon, Johnny... You're not left out and stuff..." Bobby stopped and studied Johnny's tense and frail expression some more. "If you think Jubilee's hot, there's nothing wrong with that, the attractive ones are usually maddening - "

"That's not it," Johnny broke in. "She's hot, yes. Lots of girls are hot. And yes, lots of hot girls are a pain in the ass. But there's something special about Jubilee..." Johnny expected Bobby to say something about experiences with her at the X-Mansion, but instead he was listening attentively with clear, genuine interest, so he went on. "Have you seen the way she's all nice and stuff to quiet people like Kurt who shut themselves out, or just girls?"

Bobby nodded.

"Well, it's the way that she does it, the way that she's there..." Johnny sighed again as he rested his head on his arms crossed on the table.

"She's so friendly with them, and always sticks around no matter what... I've seen Rogue have angry outbursts and stuff, and she may go off on calming down, but does she frikkin' scold them when it's not her business in the first place? No. Yet, for me, it's different... Cause I act so 'immature' as she says and try to have fun with my life... I got problems too. You know that. Pete and Kurt know that. But she can't see past every little 'wild antic' that I do that I'm just looking for a way to relax... Just like everyone else. Rogue, Pete, Kurt, Kitty, hell, lots of people I've seen, they shut themselves out when they want space. When they want a break, when they want to appreciate the good side of life. But I'm different. I let myself out, I wanna be heard...And it's nice to have people who understand that. You see, when you live like that, there's two kinds of people who you want around. There's the guys who'll laugh with ya and have fun and even though you don't talk about it much, just the way you'll look at each other and the way you do things and look out for one another, they understand your deal. That's Pete, Kurt, and you, Bobby. Then there's the person who you can be anyone with. When you feel like you're falling apart, you can talk to them no matter what, and not be afraid to do it. That's Jubes. But she's not that way for everyone, and sure as hell ain't that way for me... I want someone nice enough to be understanding, who doesn't go around judging you, who doesn't constantly expect you to play the role of the tough guy like the thousands of jerks you'll run into in Hell's Kitchen or Yancy Street, god damn it, even the rest of the gang in the Big Four... I'm just being myself, and venting. So why can't I have someone like that?"

As soon as he finished saying all of this Johnny looked back to Bobby blankly. His exhausted, thoughtful face no longer revealed the same Johnny who'd go flying on fire at seventy-five miles an hour and hooting and laughing the whole way, or the way he was when he played with girls's skirts as they walked past him; it was an ageless, painful face filled with frustrations and decisions on what to do and when to do it. Bobby simply nodded. Wordlessly, and completely understanding of what they wanted to do next, Bobby and Johnny left and changed into their alter egos in separate bathrooms.

(Manhattan, Outside)

Johnny and Iceman raided the sky, looking down at all the buildings and cars and pedestrians below them. "Ready to go back to the T-Tower yet?"

"Nah, let's fly around a little more," HT replied. They steered right towards the bridge, looking around. Suddenly their ears caught the noise of a familiar _thwip_ and they looked in it's direction.

"Hey, it's Pete!" HT exclaimed as they watched Spidey swing towards them.

"So, you got a hold of Johnny," he said to Iceman once they caught up. "You look much better," he said to his other ally.

"Yeah, nothing like a good old hit-on session to brighten my day... What's got you out and about, webhead?"

"I'm gonna be heading to Metropolis in a few hours to catch a new job, but I wanted to patrol first... It looks like you're having a good, fun time that I'd hate to ruin, but I recommend you haul tail back to the Tower. Everyone's real concerned about you two, well, namely Johnny..."

HT sighed and scoffed before muttering, "Figures..."

"We'll see you around, Pete," Iceman told him before they embarked on their friendly departures. As HT headed back with him towards the Tower, thoughts of Jubilee started racing through his head. _I'm just going to shut up and if she says anything that pisses me off, I'll walk away,_ he pledged to himself in thought. 


	13. HIVE Recruits

(Midtown High)

"You _can't_ be serious..." Flash Thompson chuckled nearly out of his wits as he watched Mortimer Toynbee, AKA Morty as referred to in Flash's posse, snatch the purse back from down the staircase with his tongue. His skin had turned green, as it had been periodically, and his saliva was thick, gooey and slimy with a toxic substance.

"How many of you can do this again?" Flash asked him.

"Well, John can control fire..." (AN: This is John. A from chapter two, so you don't confuse him - Pyro - with HT)

"That's frikkin' awesome!!! Why can't I do anything?!?"

"It's alright, Flash," John said as he walked up to him. "We'll look out for you..." 

"This is wicked... This is just wicked... We need a new name for you, Morty, that just doesn't fit you now..."

"Howabout Toad?" John suggested.

Flash laughed some more, and Morty scowled angrily. "Toad it is!"

"Shut up! Call me Morty..."

"But you're such a frikkin' frog, man..." Morty started to get pissed and was about to pounce on Flash when John pulled out a lighter and a huge flame roared from the small hole. Flash flinched and backed off a little.

"You pull any crap again," Morty threatened menacingly, "And I'm not watching your back again, Flash..."

"Yeah, sure, whatever..."

(H.I.V.E Academy)

Meanwhile in a remote location amongst Manhattan, Jinx was fixing her hair. For the past couple of days the webbing that Spider-Man left in it from their battle at Quest Aerospace, it had caused trouble with her hygiene, and while it was now cleared out the effect of it always stiffened her hair a little and caused it to stick out in places, like she'd been exposed to permanent hairspray. She grunted and growled in frustration as she struggled to put down a particular string of hair that kept popping up and sticking out in an odd manner. 

"There's more important things than appearance, Jinx..." A voice boomed from behind her. Jinx flinched, then turned around as she beheld her mentor standing by her dorm's doorway.

"Brother Blood, it is an honor to be graced by your presence..." She knelt on one leg and bowed as she said this.

"Your next training course will be beginning in a few hours, including your classmates, Gizmo and Mammoth..."

"I will be punctual and present, Brother Blood..." She replied in a submissive tone.

"Good. I will be expecting nothing less than perfection..." The figure left down the hallway and Jinx sighed to herself as she eased her posture. 

"Great... My hair is ruined by that webbed freak and an exam pops up out of nowhere," she grumbled to herself. "I'm just not in the mood to play any games with that sniveling brat and that overgrown Neanderthal..." She kept trying to fix her hair in the mirror.

After fifteen frustrating minutes, she gave up and headed towards the mess hall, sitting at the table by Gizmo and Mammoth. She didn't bother to get any food. Mammoth was stuffing his face with mashed potatoes like a dog and Gizmo was inspecting his corn like it was a mutilated corpse. 

"Just eat the damn thing," she grumbled to him.

"Quit being a buttmunch! Corn is gross..."

"Quit being a bratty little dork or I'll _make_ you eat it," she threatened under her breath. Jinx tapped her fingers rythmetically on the smooth table, looking around the walls. Suddenly a beeping noise went off in Gizmo's direction. He pressed a button on his metallic bracelet and a holographic screen displaying his e-mail came up.

"Aren't you a little young for internet dating?" Jinx said out of nowhere.

"It's a notice, you snotbag!" Gizmo retorted childishly.He poked the part of the graphics that said "New message" and read the text that appeared. "... It says we need more members... We're lacking in quantity..."

Jinx looked around the room at all the adolascent supervillains present. "... I see plenty here..."

"Not enough to fulfill Brother Blood's army, peabrain!" Gizmo whined.

Mammoth reared his head from his tray and licked his lips. "Something about Brother Blood?"

"You _really_ need to get that hair off your ears," Jinx remarked.

"Yeah! Like you ever listen in the first place, you big dumb brute!" Gizmo added. Mammoth simply growled at them both. 

"Look, let's talk to Brother Blood about this later," Jinx said. "He has an _exam_ coming up for us in like, two hours..."

Gizmo reacted in surprise, and then said "Uh... Yeah, I knew that..."

Brother Blood unexpectedly hovered to their table and said "Actually, if you want, we can postpone this test until you find our newest recruits, if you're willing..."

(Midtown High)

The trio accepted it in unison. Soon after they had traveled deeper into Manhattan, Jinx sitting on a closed dumpster and watching as Flash and his cohorts passed by. Her eyes beamed when she saw John playing with the lighter and making it ignite more than it should and the green skin of the creepy crawly Mortimer, then she jumped in their way. 

"Whoa," John said. "Looks like this girl wants you, Flash!" He said playfully as he lightly elbowed Flash's shoulder, who was grinning and nodding "Yeah... What's your name, hottie?"

Jinx rolled her eyes and uttered a noise in disgust. "I'm not looking for _you_... It's your friends," she explained.

Flash's expression turned smug and jealous when John and Morty reacted in surprise

"... Huh?" John exclaimed.

"This isn't a date... We need you, and your talents..."

Flash stepped up aggressively. "I'm talented, baby," he said, his insulted feelings lingering in his voice.

Mammoth walked up and shoved him aside. "Keep your hands off her..." he warned.

"Oh yeah? You wanna go?" Flash said as he got in a boxing stance. Mammoth simply grabbed him by the neck, lifted him up and headbutted him so hard that Flash was knocked out cold. John and Morty stared at Flash, gaping in awe as Mammoth dropped his body on the ground like it was a rag doll.

"So... Will you help us? Or does he have to persuade _you_, too?" Jinx asked playfully as Mammoth cracked his knuckles and clenched his hands into tight, balled fists like steel wrecking balls. John and Morty simply nodded in unison. "Good..."

(H.I.V.E Academy)

"Welcome to the H.I.V.E academy," Jinx said, gesturing to the underground lair of their educational dwelling.

John and Morty scanned the environment. "... Looks kinda weird, but okay... What's the catch?" John asked.

"No school?" Jinx noted as she winked. John and Morty looked at each other with smiles as they nodded. "That's good enough for me... We'll join," John exclaimed, and they were escorted to their dorm. 


	14. Birth Of Shocker

Herman Schultz walked into the near-abandoned warehouse. The lights were dimmed to a faintly dark tone to give little illumination, and the only noise to accompany him were the echoes of buzzsaws and electrical noise haunting the halls eerily. He hung his coat on a rack as he opened the door to a blue-lit room to find his partner in crime, former engineer Maxwell Dillon, working on their vile piece of villainy.

"How's the project?" Herman asked him.

"It's nearing completion... In less than an hour, you can wreak as much havoc as you want..." his partner replied.

Herman and Maxwell started working together when Maxwell was fired from Oscorp. In a fit of rage and a foul vendetta brewing in his mind, he agreed to bail Herman out of jail and offer him the power to cause mass destruction as long as he would eventually stick it to Oscorp. This was wonderful to Herman - the concept of their invention were two wrist-mounted gauntlets with a control panel on his palm. They weighed twenty pounds and didn't cover his fingers, allowing him to grab things and work the buttons when need be. He would wear the gauntlets made of adamantium while they were hooked to a rubber body suit (so as to conduct the electricity used shall Herman be exposed to it, rendering it harmless to himself) with electric prods on it.

The prods worked with a button on the panel that would rip the electricity out of power systems, like generators or telephone poles, so he could easily fuel the gauntlets or charge the blasts to further extremities with any electric technology nearby. (AN: In the Spider-Man comics, Herman is the Shocker and Maxwell is Electro. Maxwell won't be masquerading as Electro this time, but Shocker's abilities with this suit combines his powers with Electro's.) Herman picked up the suit he would be wearing to reign terror from a table and examined it. It fit his body perfectly, skin-tight as he held it up to himself, just as he requested.

"You're doing a great job, Dillon," he told his partner. "I'll get to your precious little Oscorp sooner or later, but for now I gotta hand you a payment - it's only fair..." He reached into his pocket and withdrew a stash of $100 dollar bills held together with a rubber band.

He handed it to Maxwell, who took a brief break from working on the panel of the gauntlets to accept the money. "There's more important things to me than materialism, Herman..."

"Hey - good workers always get a tip. And this is your tip. I'll get to Oscorp soon enough. Hell, use your imagination - you could use that to sue them or something." He looked down at the near-finished gauntlets. "How long is it till these are done?"

"Forty minutes," Maxwell told him.

Herman shrugged. "Better than nothing..." He paced around to the concepts table and carefully studied the functions for each button on the panel that were labeled there. "This is a great idea... An ingenious idea," Herman commented to his partner. "You know, if you keep thinking of stuff like this, maybe you can build your own industries... You can outsell Oscorp, and move on to something better than them..."

Maxwell sighed. "That's what I'd like to do..."

"What do you mean?"

"Oscorp's got more than two million employees working their asses off every day, and I'm just one sleezy old fogey who has nothing better to do than work in the basement..."

"That ain't the way to go about things," Herman said to him. "Lighten up. You can be a big shot just like Osborn if you keep working. It took me a while to pull off robberies without getting bagged. And guess what? One day, I rob a Washington Mutual in Queens singlehandedly, made them pour outta their pockets..."

"That's before Spider-Man was around," Maxwell noted.

Herman sighed in frustration in reply. "Yes, _Spider-Man_..." He added through clenched teeth.

"So, what exactly are you going to do with this first?" Maxwell asked him. "You know, what every good inventor's partner does - I'm gonna take it for a test drive..." 


	15. Blame It On Johnny

(Titans Tower)

"So, it's cool, then?" Bobby asked Johnny in concern.

"Yeah, I'll be fine... Let me work things out a little in my room..." He started to head down the hall in the direction of his room when Shadowcat appeared from under the floor in his way.

"Kitty, that's not funny, I need to relax..." He tried to get past her but Kitty kept blocking his way. "What's the big deal?!? C'mon, I need to go to my room!"

Robin, Jubilee and Victor approached the three of them, staring specifically at Johnny with a confrontational expression. Johnny surveyed them all nervously.

"C'mon, guys, anything I did back there, whatever I did to piss you off I'm sorry..."

"There's a constant need for peace in this tower, Johnny," Tim told him sternly. "When we battle threats outside the tower, the Titans are exhausted. The last thing we need is a fight amongst ourselves."

"Alright, I get it... I was just in a pissy mood earlier, okay? Now can I please go?"

"You threatened to throw fire at Beast Boy and Jubilee, Johnny," Tim continued. "I can't allow that in the tower..."

Johnny sighed, hanging his head low. "Aw, man... Please don't kick me out... I won't do anything, I swear..."

"I'm not going to kick you out, I'm just letting you know. That stuff isn't cool."

Bobby came to his rescue and jumped in, getting in Tim's way. "Excuse me, Robin, but Johnny really needs to take a break from stress... He's having a rough time, and he's just adapting to the tower..."

"This is a _big_ concern, Bobby. He needs to know that the other Titans feared for their safety - "

"I understand it's a big deal. It was scary. But Johnny doesn't just do things like that for no reason, okay? He's put up with a lot from his previous team, and wants to fulfill his need for freedom and individuality, like in the ways he does things or expresses himself..." As Bobby said this, Johnny's eyes peered over to Jubilee. She was doing that pout that she did whenever she was upset about something, rolling her eyes and sighing.Johnny took his eyes off of her shamefully, trying his best not to protest and to keep quiet.

"... Alright. But the next time Johnny does something like that, there's going to be some serious penalties around here," Tim warned.

Bobby sighed in relief, then looked back to Johnny with a friendly smile. He patted his back and gestured to the hall, and Johnny nodded, proceeding to his room.

The tension in Bobby's shoulders faded as he walked over to the couch and plopped his body on it, getting cozy while watching TV. Beast Boy was channel surfing and stopped on MTV to watch Viva La Bam. He started giggling wildly as Bam Margera broke a skateboard in two over Mike Valley's bald crown.

"How can you stick up for him like that?" Jubilee asked accusingly.

Bobby looked over his shoulder and saw her standing there, her hands on her hips and her face aghast in disbelief. "He may not be your friend, Jubes, but he is mine... I know the stuff he goes through, okay? Johnny can be a jerk. But everybody, even the class clown, needs their cut of slack..."

"Oh, sure," Jubilee started sarcastically, "After sticking tacks in the principal's seat, tripping Flash's cronies face first into concrete and egging Mr. Fisk's Mercades Benz all day, Johnny gets tired, and needs to take a well-deserved break."

Bobby sighed. "Don't be like that... He's just doing it because he thinks it's funny..."

"Funny?" Jubilee scoffed. "To him, funny is waxing and polishing Professor Xavier's head, or burning out Logan's cigarettes before he can finish them - and lord knows how grumpy he gets when that happens... The boy's nothing but trouble, and he's got a _horrible_ sense of humor at that..."

"Give him a break, Jubilee... Just once..."

"You weren't always on his side, Bobby! Do you remember the time you were talking to that cute girl down at In-N-Out Burger, and Johnny stole her before you had the chance to ask her out? Or when he put an open stink bomb in your locker? If only he were doing something like that to you right now, instead of how he does it to everyone else, you wouldn't be saying this, I just know it..."

Bobby shook his head and got up. He headed for the kitchen when Jubilee called "Don't you walk away from me, Bobby Drake!"

"Whoever said you were my mom?" he replied across the room before going out the door. BB chuckled slightly as he heard this, and Jubilee did her little pout thing before storming off to her room.

Cyborg, Tim, Starfire and Rogue were waiting for him at the table. "Hey, Bobby," Tim greeted as he motioned for him to sit next to Rogue.

"What's going on?" He replied as he took his seat.

"Well, we decided we were going to get some food... We'd eat out this time, but after a vote, the majority of the Titans wanted to stay home to eat..."

"What are you getting?"

"Pizza. We need someone to go pick it up... Would you mind?"

Bobby shrugged. "Not at all, Robin..."

"Good," Tim replied as he handed him a note with the order and two $20 bills.

"I'll just head out and get it now..."

"Thanks a lot, Bobby," Tim praised.

"Yeah, you're cool, Bobby," Victor added.

"Yes! We are much appreciative of your help, Man of Ice!" Starfire chimed.

Bobby headed off and to the elevator, putting the note and money in his pocket. As soon as he reached the bottom of the tower, he changed into Iceman in a bathroom and headed off back towards the parlor he had found Johnny at earlier. As the ascending stream of ice he was traveling on lengthened at his feet, Iceman soared over the bridge and towards Manhattan. Suddenly he heard a distant, echoing _boom_, like something was exploding... The noise was faint, but sounded like what would be devastating up close. His probing curiosity got the better of him and just to be sure all was safe and well, he steered to the direction of the noise...

(Kitty's Room)

Back at the tower, Jubilee was talking to Kitty in her room. "I can't believe it... Everyone thinks Johnny is so much _fun_, that he's a great guy... Now he's got Bobby under his spell..." Jubilee was ranting.

"Well, when you think about it, he _has_ been spending lots of time with Johnny at school... There were a few rough bumps when they first met, like when Bobby would complain about him back in Westchester, but they get along fine now," Kitty told her.

Jubilee rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Johnny's just a party animal... That's all he was, that's all he ever will be... Nothing ever changes for him, it's like he can never have too much 'fun'..."

"You know, that Johnny is actually pretty hot, don't you think?"

Jubilee blushed and winced sheepishly. "... I don't care about how he looks, it's no good having a guy if he's so wily and reckless and childish all the time..."

"You really gotta find a way to get along with him, one way or the other - it's not just being in the same city anymore. Now, you're under the same roof."

"I know that..."

"What do you always tell me and Rogue? 'If you can't get along with them, ditch them'. Well, you can't ditch him, obviously, so you should at least try your best, right?"

Jubilee sighed. "I guess so..."

(Titans Tower, Living Room)

Victor hopped on the couch next to BB. The whole furniture shook and bounced when he did, and Victor cringed, forgetting how heavy his steel limbs made him. Beast Boy landed ass-first on the couch's arm.

"Dude, be careful!" He scolded, rubbing his sore buttocks while grabbing for the remote.

"Sorry, man..." he told him.

"Let's see what's on," BB said nonchalantly as he started flipping through channels again.

"Let's watch the news," Victor suggested.

"Hell no! The news is boring!"

"It's educational," Victor added. "Who knows - we may get to kick some butt," he said as he snatched the remote out of BB's hands and changed it to channel 2 - and soon enough, the future unfolded before them. 


	16. Iceman VS Shocker

(Disclaimer: There's a cameo here, April O'Neil from TMNT. Just wanted to say that I don't own her either.)

The black figure laughed to himself triumphantly as he raised his steel-clad fists in power. Herman Schultz had been using the gauntlets for five minutes, and already he was loving it. With just the push of a button, small buildings like stores and banks would tremble and topple before him, innocent civilians would beg for their lives and he could tear apart anything and anyone in his way. He poised himself erect on the street and aimed the gauntlets straight down apart from his feet and pushed the buttons - a huge _BANG!!!_ roared from below him and he rocketed violently into the sky, a fiery crater bore into the part of the street he stood at seconds ago.

More than ten yards away he returned to the earth. Herman laughed some more as he heard the cars swerve and collide into each other behind the deadly barrier he had created. He held the gauntlets before his face and declared "All will bow on their knees and give up their most precious valuables before the Shocker..." he repeated the huge blasting jump, the shockwaves from the gauntlets boosting him high into the air, this time sending him five miles away on top of a convenience store across the street from a gas station. At that very moment, Iceman arrived at the scene, stopping his ice slide in mid-air to get a clear glimpse of the perpetrator.

"What the hell is this?" Herman asked himself, baffled. He stared at the teenage superhero through his head-encasing rubber mask and white eyepieces. Iceman leapt off the slide and on the roof, right in front of the villain.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" he interrogated menacingly as he glared into the mask.

Shocker pressed his gauntlets firmly into Iceman's belly, charging his next blast, and growled "None of your business, rookie..." Another gargantuan, searingly painful blast knocked Iceman off the roof and onto a parked taxi right next to the sidewalk across the street.

Iceman groaned as he strained to get up, rubbing his back. The ice reformed around the places he had been hit that revealed his X-Man uniform.

"Let's finish this clown off," Shocker grumbled to himself as he charged another blast and aimed for his target's head. Iceman seemed to realize exactly what he was doing, and formed a huge ice shield just in time big enough to encase the front of his body as Shocker unleashed another shockwave ray. The impact was innocuous to Iceman's protection, which he tossed onto the sidewalk when Shocker stopped shooting. "Damn it," Shocker grumbled under his breath when the blast had stopped.

At that, Iceman took his chance and leapt back on the roof. He formed a huge mallet of ice and swung sideways, breaking it on Shocker's head. The villain cried out in pain as he was sent off his feet, sliding along the rooftop. Iceman walked over to him as Shocker was recovering, struggling to get up. He then threw a massively powerful uppercut to Iceman's jaw, catching him by surprise. Both the natural muscle force of Shocker's arm and the help of his hard adamantium gauntlet were strong enough to send Iceman on a backflip, breaking the ice on his head and revealing his hair and the bare skin of his face. Bobby held his forehead in agony as he stumbled back to his feet, dazed by the impact.

"Heh, you're just a kid..." Shocker chuckled to himself when he saw Bobby's face. "A frikkin' kid... You shouldn't have started any of this, kid, 'cause now you're gonna get yourself killed..." Shocker started to charge his next blast immensely, gathering some electricity from the light poles nearby, when Iceman regained stability and jumped in the air over the beams just in time. In mid-air he froze Shocker's gauntlets together. "What?!? No!!!" He cried out as he tried to shake them apart. The ice on Iceman's face returned as he walked up to Shocker and grabbed him by the neck. Slowly, he froze his whole body, his head still exposed. "No... No," Shocker chanted in fear as he shivered from both the cold and intimidation, his head now being encased in thick ice as well.

Iceman hauled his enemy up high, holding him over his head. He walked to the edge of the building and looked down at a metal rail close to the sidewalk. He then threw Shocker as hard as he could straight down towards the rail. The impact had damaged the back of Shocker's pelvis and broke the ice he was trapped in. He cried out in pain from hitting the rail so hard that it bent down to the ground. "Augh... My back... My aching back," he complained as he got up from his knees, holding his wound and stumbling around. Iceman jumped back down to street level and got in back of Shocker. He grabbed him by the back of his neck and pulled him back to a straight posture, encasing his head in ice so thick he couldn't see.

Shocker was yelling and rambling in frantic panic, shooting the gauntlets in all sorts of different directions. Iceman quickly grabbed the gauntlets and froze them back together. A crowd from across the street cheered the victory of the hero. Iceman, astonished, beheld the witnesses of his fight with Shocker.

"I'm April O'Neil, and this is New York City Live! A young hero with freezing powers has just captured the destructive man who's been identified as Herman Schultz, allowing police to finally be able to take him into custody safely!" Two police officers walked up and took Shocker from Iceman's hands.

"Thank you, young man," one of them said with a tip of their hat.

(Titans Tower, Living Room)

Cyborg and BB stared at the TV, their jaws dropping.

"Dude... He just bagged a bad guy!" BB said in amazement.

"Robin, come quick!" Cyborg called. Robin, Starfire and Rogue walked into the room and saw what was happening. Coincidentally, Kitty and Jubilee saw it, too. The last person to walk in and see it was Johnny. They all gathered around the couch as if it was a tribal ritual, their eyes glued to the screen tentatively, watching Iceman's sudden public appeal in grand amazement.

"Finally, we're being recognized," Robin said proudly.

(Back at the scene...)

April, the reporter at the scene, scurried over to Bobby. "Tell us, how did you capture him?"

"Uh... I just saw him blowing up all that stuff, and I knew he had to be stopped... So, I did something..."

"What's your name?" the reporter inquired.

"That's confidential, but you can call me by my codename, Iceman..."

"Have you been trained to do this?"

"Sort of, at Professor Xavier's school of the gifted... Right now I'm working for the Teen Titans, a group of superheroes who live in their city-funded tower - "

"Where can we find them?" The reporter probed.

Iceman tried to look for the bridge next to the Titans Tower, then pointed "Right there," and the camera swerved past the corner of a building and zoomed in on the tower.

"Is there anything else you'd like to say?" April asked Bobby.

"Uh... No..."

"What will you do next?"

"Well... I'm going to go pick up some pizza..."

The crowd cheered as if this was the greatest thing they'd ever heard. The camera returned to April as she ended the report and Bobby watched the police handle Shocker. He broke the ice on his head against his gauntlets and pulled them apart from the ice.

"HE'S GETTING AWAY!!!" one cop shouted as he ran. Iceman started to chase him when Shocker had blasted himself into the water. Electricity sizzled above the surface followed by a trace of steam. "Don't worry about it, we'll get him," another cop said reassuringly, and Iceman stopped. He looked back to the crowd that were celebrating his victory wildly.

"I LOVE YOU ICEMAN!!! I WANT YOUR BABIES!!!" one girl shouted hysterically as he walked past her. Iceman blushed under his encased skin.

"Um... Sure thing," was all he sheepishly managed to say. This made the girl scream even wilder, and Iceman quickly created a new ice slide and flew away. The crowd cheered some more and waved to him as he disappeared out of sight on his way to the pizza parlor. 


	17. The Daily Planet

(Metropolis)

"Big, revolving globe... Smack dab with it's name on it. What could be harder to miss?" Spider-Man said as he swung over to the Daily Planet. He changed by crawling into a 7-11's air vent nearby and using the bathroom, then walked across the street to enter his future workplace. He approached a girl at a desk and said "I'd like to see Mr. White, please..."

"I'm sorry, you're going to have to make an appointment - "

"Please, ma'am, it's urgent," Peter said. "I'm looking for a job..."

The girl hesitated for a moment. "Hmm... Well, we _do_ need some help..." She looked back to Peter and raised an eyebrow after realizing he was just a teen. "What kind of work experience do you have?"

"I was a photographer for the Daily Bugle," he admitted.

"Oh, _that_ place... They did have a real good photographer that left us in the dust... I think his name was - "

"Peter Parker?" he broke in. The girl stared at him blankly. "Yeah, that's me..." He nodded proudly.

The girl blinked in disbelief. She slowly pointed to him and asked "... _You're_ Peter Parker?"

"Yes, ma'am..." She crossed her arms sternly, thinking that this was all some kind of joke. "Prove it."

Peter pulled out his wallet and showed her his school I.D. She was nearly convinced, then shook her head doubtfully and said "It could be fake."

Peter rolled his eyes and sighed in frustration. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a stack of photos. "Here," he said as he handed them to her.

There were many amazing, marvelous photos - Professor Xavier up close. Oscorp from a perfect angle. The Fantastic Four, in the flesh, assembled in formal order up close. And many others. "... Oh my god... Oh my god," she said as she looked over the photos. When she was done, she looked back to Peter astonished, handing him the photos. "I think you've got yourself a job," she said brightly.

Peter raised an eyebrow. "_You're_ Mr. White?"

The girl snapped into realization and said "Oh, sorry, hold on..." She picked up the phone and punched in three numbers. Soon later Mr. White's raspy, grumbling voice emerged from the speaker. "Yes, hello, Mr. White... No... No... Jimmy left to go get Starbucks fifteen minutes ago... Yes, I'm sure he has it... There is good news... Peter Parker's right in front of me, he says he's looking for a job... Yes, right away, sir." She hung up and looked back to Peter. "Mr. White says he wants to see you as soon as possible. Go ahead and take the elevator to the top."

Peter smiled triumphantly. "Thanks, ma'am," he said before he started to walk off. She grabbed his hand and started to shake it.

"It's a pleasure and an honor to meet you, Mr. Parker," she said smiling brightly.

"Um... Okay," he said before taking back his hand and approaching the elevator.

(Perry White's Office)

Soon later, Peter walked into Perry White's office. As soon as he looked up from his desk, he took off his glasses and asked "Are you lost or something?"

Peter stared at him baffled. "No, sir..."

"Who's kid are you? Where are you from?"

"I'm... Peter Parker, sir..."

Perry White started laughing. "That's a good one. Now go home, I'm busy..."

"I'm serious, Mr. White, my name is Peter Parker, I'm the same photographer that used to work at the Daily Bugle..."

Perry sighed and rolled his eyes in annoyance. He leaned over his desk and glared at Peter. "Oh, really?"

"Yes, really..." Soon he went through the same phase with Perry White that he did with the girl at the desk, except he wasn't as impressed.

"What about Iceman fighting Shocker?" Perry inquired.

Peter blinked. "What?"

"That fight that just happened in New York City. You got that?"

"I didn't even know it happened, sir..."

"Well, what were you doing?!? Everybody knows about it!!!"

"... I was on my way here, sir..."

Perry paused in hesitation. "Oh yeah - you're just a kid. Must've taken you ages to get here... How'd you convince your mother to take you here?"

"I didn't, sir..."

"What'd you do? Skip school?"

"I'm emancipated, sir..." _Jeez, this guy is as bad as Jameson, if not worse!_ Peter thought to himself in annoyance.

Perry stroked his chin thoughtfully in decision. Finally he said "Well, you're apparently the best we can get. Without you, the Bugle will be in shambles, and we'll have both great reporters and a great photographer."

Peter smiled, feeling complimented. "Thank you, Mr. White," he said as he shook his hand.

"No, thank you, Mr. Parker, for gracing us with your presence and offering your services... You're hired. Come around with me so you can meet the crew." He escorted Peter out of his office and brought him past the many cubicles. "These are our top two reporters - Clark Kent and Louis Lane," Perry said as he gestured to the two. "Clark and Louis, meet Peter Parker. Peter Parker, meet Louis and Clark," he introduced as they stared at each other.

"Wow... You're pretty young for such a great photographer," Louis said.

"Yeah, well... It's a favorite hobby of mine, and I have lots of time on my hands..."

Clark shook Peter's hand. "Well, well, Mr. Parker, it's so glad to see you in our offices!" he said cheerily.

"Thanks," Peter said, smiling. "I've heard great things about your articles - both of you," he added.

"Yes, and I've seen those great pictures you've taken," said Clark.

_Maybe the Planet isn't so bad after all,_ Peter thought to himself. _I'm actually recognized for my talents here_... Suddenly a short, young man stumbling through the people walking from cubicle to cubicle and balancing a tray with cupholders came into view.

"Ah, finally, he's here!" Perry announced. "Jimmy, which one is mine?"

"This one, sir," the man said as he fumbled around with one of the cups before handing it to his boss. He gave the other two to Louis and Clark and started sipping the last one for himself.

"Hey, Jimmy, guess what?" chimed Louis. Jimmy looked to her curiously. She pointed to Peter and said "That's Peter Parker - he's our new photographer."

Jimmy's eyes beamed. "Oh my gosh, Mr. Parker!" he proclaimed as he shook his hand excitedly. "You're legendary! I've always wanted to know your camera secrets, you're awesome, you're my idol!"

"Um... Thanks," Peter said sheepishly. _Wow_... _More people know me here than I thought_...

"So, Peter, when will you be able to work?" Perry asked him.

Peter shrugged. "I'm on-and-off again... It depends on the day, really... But assign me something you want pictures for and I'll get it to you in a heartbeat," he said.

Perry laughed before patting Peter on the back. "That's the spirit, boy! I can tell you're going to be a great employee here... In fact, there's something I want you to try to get a picture of right now, if you could..."

Peter looked at him curiously. "What would that be, Mr. White?"

"Superman."

Peter's eyes widened, and Clark's attention seemed enraptured at the mention of the word as well. "... S-Superman?"

"Yes. Not gonna be a problem for you, is it?"

Peter shook himself out of his doubts and said "I'll get to work on it right away, sir," though he felt as if it would be hard to do even as Spider-Man.

Thinking about how hard it would be to catch up to someone who can outrun a train, Peter approached the balcony, sighing to himself. _How can anyone get a picture of Superman?_ He thought gloomily. _He can stop bullets, he's so fast_... _I mean, I've gotten tough pictures before, but it's not like he'll just fly up in front of me and hold still_... _Who does Perry White think I am?_ Suddenly as if by miracle, Superman floated right in front of him. Peter was frozen briefly by disbelief, but he quickly pulled out his camera and started snapping shots like it was the last day of his life. After a few minutes Superman smiled and waved before flying off at what seemed like it was faster than possible. _I know it can't be my spider sense, but something tells me that from now on, my job's gonna be a hell of a lot easier_... 


	18. Making Progress

(Raven's Room)

"Wow... I didn't think tarot cards were like that," Kurt said in astonishment.

"Does it make sense to you?" Raven asked him in concern.

"Well, yeah... It makes sense, I can definitely see that in myself and in my life..."

Raven studied Kurt's face for a moment. "You look... Uncomfortable," she said. "Are you alright?"

"I'm just kinda worried..."

"Worried about what?"

"Well, it sounds like things are gonna happen again... You see, whenever there's this big problem in my personal life outside the X-Mansion or things, I always get real worried about it because I know it's bad news... I try to prepare myself the best that I can, but it's like the more that I struggle, the more I end up getting hurt... So my only option is to do nothing, to shut it up all inside, but then it slowly eats away at me and I have to think about it all by myself..."

Raven nodded sympathetically and took Kurt's hand in hers. "I've felt that before," she claimed.

Kurt sighed. "Doesn't it just kill you to try and talk to someone about it when all most of them really do is go off on what _they_ think you should do, when they don't even really get it?"

"Mmhm."

"People tell me I need to go have fun or just relax or something but I know that it's much more serious than they make it out to be... Sure, Peter, Bobby and Johnny will wanna go hang out with me or something, like we'd go to a movie or eat pizza or go to the mall, but as soon as I walk back in my room everything comes back... There's just no sense in running away when it won't make it disappear..."

Raven looked deep into Kurt's eyes.

"Sure, I can teleport away to wherever I want, so I can be by myself... And while I would be free from all those people that I'm sick of, people who think the answer to everything is fun and games, I'd wind up being alone, with no one who really gets it... It's like everyone, supernatural or not, are in that repetitive cycle of go do this, go do that, when in the end they won't confront their issues... They say they want to take care of things by going to do that, but all it really is is a temporary escape, a substitute for the solution... It's like we're living more to avoid pain than to experience joy instead of the other way around, like they claim..."

Kurt stopped, realizing about how deep he was going off on this. "I'm sorry," he said solemnly in a soft voice as he looked back to Raven.

"Why?"

"I shouldn't be talking to you about this..."

"But I want to know what's bothering you... I care about you," Raven urged anxiously.

Kurt sighed, looking down from the bed sadly. "But I don't want you to be troubled with my personal frustrations..."

Raven softly rubbed his shoulder soothingly, edging closer to him. "What hurts you hurts me, yes, but only because we long for the emotional well-being of the other... You've listened to me the way I've always wanted someone to, but they never could, never knew how. I want to repay you for that by doing the same. I don't want to just accept the wonderful empathy that you offer and give nothing in return..."

"Believe me," Kurt insisted, "You do enough for me by offering me the comfort and sanctuary of your room and your company whenever I want, and for caring at all... It's one thing to have genuine care for a friend stored inside, but to let it out in a way that you can really feel it, and both of you know that you can count on each other for anything, is a beautiful thing to have..."

"Yes," Raven agreed, "So please, depend on me by entrusting me with what bothers you..."

Kurt sighed again, looking away briefly. A lonesome pain filled his eyes, and Raven seemed to know exactly what he was thinking, but he ended up confessing anyways.

"... I'm still scared of people who don't take my concerns seriously... That they'll just tell me what to do or label me for my sensitivity... It feels so unfair..."

Kurt expected Raven to get upset and scold him by saying something like "How could you ever think I would do that?!?", but instead she remained sympathetic and said "I understand... I felt that way, too, before I talked to you about what bothered me... If you're not ready yet, it's okay... I'll wait for you..." Kurt and Raven's faces slowly neared each other, staring deep into each other's eyes.

They were about to dive into their first kiss ever when Shadowcat opened the door. "Oh," she said in surprise, not have been expecting Kurt to be in Raven's room.

"I... Thought you went off somewhere else, but okay... Anyways, Robin's about to reheat the pizza for dinner soon. Are you gonna come eat with us?" she inquired in a friendly manner.

Raven and Kurt looked back to each other. Kurt shrugged, and they both got up and walked out the door, following Shadowcat to the kitchen. There, the whole team waited for them as Cyborg was dividing the pizzas with a machete that was previously retracted in his arm panel.

Everyone put one or two slices of their preference amongst the four assorted pizzas before Robin started announcing to them. "We're making good progress today, team," he declared proudly. "Thanks to one of our newest members, Bobby Drake, we've been paid massively enough to have a shred of luxury, comfort and required hygenial management for at least two months! Now, if only we can keep this up regularly, we can pretty much feel entirely at home in the tower..."

"Also," Peter started to say, "I've been paid two thousand dollars my first day on the job, for photographs of Superman and other things in Metropolis..."

"The more, the merrier!" Cyborg rooted as he finished saying this.

"Hey, I've got an idea," Johnny chimed. Everyone looked at him. "Instead of waiting on our tushes all day at the tower waiting for a signal or a call or a newsflash, we can have schedules patrols?"

Robin hesitated for a moment. "It's certainly a more productive concept..."

"Fire human, would you please elaborate for better understanding?" Starfire asked.

"What I mean is we could assign different members of the team to different parts of Manhattan for a few hours a day, so we can catch crime right there, right when it happens," Johnny explained.

"That's an awesome idea, Johnny! We'll pick a schedule right after dinner," Tim praised.

(AN: I know this chapter's been quite short, but I had to cut the end because it would've been very confusing. Now that I've gotten all my supremely old and dusty chapters out, I'm going to try and write new, polished, better-written chapters to continue the story the way I had planned.)


	19. Titans Go!

Disclaimer: Once again, I own nothing here. All of it is property of Marvel and DC.

Story Summary: For those who haven't read the past 18 chapters, Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Human Torch (Johnny Storm), Iceman (Bobby Drake) and Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner) have been attending Midtown High School and fighting crime together as their superhero identities. The Teen Titans, suffering financial difficulties, are looking for a cause they can help out with, but ultimately fail. In an attempt to redeem their ailing condition, they post flyers for voluntary recruitment to the team. The four superfriends of Midtown High all see this and decide to join. Further along the way, Iceman and Nightcrawler of the X-Men invite young mutants of the X-Mansion to join with them, and Shadowcat (Kitty Pryde), Jubilee and Rogue become part of the team as well. Raven and Nightcrawler have developed a partly budding relationship, and Johnny Storm suffered brief anger issues that nearly threatened the lives of his fellow Titans. While not kicked out, he was warned. With even more Titans to support and still no citizens to help in sight, Robin fears for the future of the Titans Tower, thinking he may need to shut it down. As if by miracle, Iceman defeats a new supervillain named Shocker, gaining finances for the tower. Spider-Man has also gotten a job at The Daily Planet in Metropolis as a photographer, and it seems as if the Titans are well on their way. However, they are still unsuspecting of the threat of the H.I.V.E, with Toad (Mortimer Toynbee) and Pyro (St. John Allerdyce) joining their ranks. And now, the future unfolds...

(Titans Tower, 10:00 AM)

Spidey leapt backwards onto the steel wall, dodging the ball of laser hurtling his way.

"God!!! Is training always this dangerous?!?"

Robin batted away one of the robots created specifically for the training room.

"We have to be as ready as we can. Whatever circumstance, we'll fight it."

Cyborg blasted one of the incoming bots he himself had constructed with the sonic cannon in his arm. Three from behind were about to pounce on him at once, but the Human Torch threw searing fireballs at each at from behind as he flew past, incinerating them just before they could hit Cyborg.

"Whoa..." he said in surprise as he glanced at the ashes behind him.

Meanwhile, Starfire pinned two of the machines against a wall, crushing them both. One of the robots given the ability to fly was about to fire a net onto Star, but Spidey saw this and quickly leapt from the wall to yank her down. Star yelped as the net narrowly missed her, closing in on the wall.

BB had turned into a hawk and was soaring right above said machine before morphing into a lion and pouncing on it, biting and clawing the bot to bits as they descended.

Raven raised an eyebrow at this. "Yeah, a little overzealous..."

Suddenly a quartet of the man-shaped machines leapt at Raven, threatening to tackle her. Raven quickly aimed her hands towards two large wall-shaped obstacles. Black energy surrounded them and her two hands as she clapped, smashing her attackers between them. She grinned, before a bionic orb diced it's way through the walls with a laser and threatened to hurtle itself into Raven's face at eighty miles an hour.

She could only gasp, but luckily Nightcrawler transported in the way just in time and sliced the orb in half with one of his swords. The pieces harmlessly collided against the ground feet away from Raven.

"Thank you..." she praised, blushing. Kurt smiled warmly, but unbeknownst to him a small hole in the wall had opened, firing a long, spear-shaped piece of metal. Raven's eyes widened. "Look out!!!" she cried, and Kurt saw it. He only needed a glimpse, as he quickly wrapped his arms around his closest friend and disappeared in a billowing cloud of purple smoke, causing the spear instead to hurtle straight for Johnny.

Johnny put his hands out in front of him and emanted a small flame, incinerating the spear as it neared him. "Damn... What is this, a suicide field?" he retorted.

"It is only this way to keep us ready, fire human," Starfire told him as she wrestled against a target that was well the size of Cyborg and quickly split it in half, the wires sizzling and crackling as oil spattered onto the floor. "Robin had told me so..."

Johnny scoffed. "Robin? Yeah, he's just about king of the world, isn't he?"

"King... Of... The... World? ... Robin never told me that he ruled the planet Earth..." Starfire replied unknowingly.

"... Never mind." Johnny answered as he emanted a burst of fire like a flame thrower from his palm, melting the robots in front of him into useless gobs that sunk to the floor.

Iceman was flying around in circles on a slide he constructed, spraying cold air from his hand against the foes before him. They froze solid and quickly collided with the floor. Most everyone was lucky enough to jump out of their way, but poor Cyborg was hit in the back just as he was going to lift one of the goons he was fighting.

"OW!!!" he cried as the shattered ice slid off his back, rubbing it.

"Sorry," Iceman told him sheepishly as he continued to survey the room for free robots to destroy.

Rogue was spending her time turning and dodging from the robots that swiped at her. Jubilee, feet away, didn't have as much trouble battling her share of the robots, but looked over to Rogue and scowled.

"Help me, please, Jubilee!" Rogue cried desperately as she just barely ducked a swipe from one of the larger machines.

Jubilee pouted and fussed to herself as she stomped over to Rogue. "I told you, I won't blow them up again!"

"It doesn't have to be you!" Rogue shouted back.

Jubilee winced once she realized what she was saying, and rolled down her sleeve. "Oh, I hate when you do this..." she murmured, baring her forearm and looking away with eyes shut.

Rogue frantically threw off her glove and gripped Jubilee's bare skin. Jubilee shuddered violently as she could feel a painful portion of her energy sapped from her. "Okay, okay!!! Let go!!!" she hollered.

Rogue did. "Thanks!" she said before putting her hands outward to the robots. Suddenly, small fireworks emanted from them, blowing apart the metallic shielding on the robots and knocking them onto the floor before they burst wholly open.

Spidey drop kicked a larger robot in the chest, bouncing off of it and then backflipping onto the shoulders of another. He began to wrench it's head and managed to screw it off before standing on one foot and throwing it like a baseball. It flew into the side of a robot that Robin was trying to wrest his staff from, ripping out of the other side and being showered in oil as it rolled along the ground.

The robot that Robin was struggling with loosened it's grip and fell to the ground lifelessly. He looked to the web slinger and gave him a thumbs up. "Thanks!" he called with a smile.

Spider-Man nodded. "Of course." A prick on his neck told him to beware from his right, and he looked in that direction to immediately lean back as the robot attacking him swiped with a long blade protruding from it's arm.

Robin clenched his teeth in determination and he drew three birdarangs from his utility belt and threw them one by one with precise aim, forming in the shape of a triangle on the robot's chest. It staggered for a few moments before dropping dead.

"I guess we're even," Spider-Man said with a shrug.

Beat Boy charged three robots in the form of a rhino and gored all three through the chest onto his horn. He hurriedly shook them off before turning into a raptor and pouncing on another from a few feet away, sinking his teeth into it's neck.

Nightcrawler had leapt at one of the robots threatening to launch a bomb at him, stabbing it through where it's gut would be and ripping out his blade from the side. It staggered to the ground and shut off as he looked behind him to find another charging his way. He quickly swiped behind him, beheading the robot. A third from another side wielding a retractable taser fired it at Kurt, who held his sword out in front of him and allowed the tazer to snare around it before teleporting behind the robot. He stabbed it through the side of the head, tazer still attatched, and teleported before he could get shocked. The robot jolted and bucked in wild motions as it's circuits fried. It fell down again shortly, and Kurt retrieved his sword.

"Danke," he uttered simply.

The last dozen robots were readying themselves to fight the Titans from afar. Robin nodded to Cyborg, and Spider-Man signalled from Cyborg's right. At that Cyborg grabbed both Spider-Man and Robin and hurled them towards the robots. The two agile heroes kicked off of each other's feet, sending them into the air as Spider-Man fired a huge net-shaped web from both hands and Robin threw two spheres that held nets inside at the robots. All twelve of them were ensnared, struggling to break free and attack the team. Raven used her telepathic powers to lift each of them a few feet above the ground as Iceman slid underneath them all and fired a widespread frost from his hands, freezing the bottom of each of the machine's traps so they couldn't escape. Starfire and the Human Torch both went to separate ends of the huge plate of ice and blasted it high into the air, causing all of the robots, still caged by whatever means, to spread outward. Jubilee and Rogue then both reached outwards, and each of the robots exploded in fireworks, spelling out "Teen Titans" in vibrant, radiant colors. The team beheld it in awe as debris and scrap metal rained down onto the floor, clattering and banging noisily.

(Titans Tower, Living Room, 10:25 AM)

"Dude! That was like a light show! It was totally awesome!" BB shouted.

"It was pretty amazing..." Bobby added.

"Team, this is very good news. We've found out our capability as a team. I'm sure we'll have no trouble fighting crime together if we keep this up," Robin announced.

"Well, hell yeah! Look at how good we did!" Johnny blurted.

"It won't always be that easy, Johnny," Cyborg warned.

"What? Not even half of the crooks that I've busted before could have been as dangerous as those robots! What've we got to fear?"

"There's other people out there like us, Johnny," Robin stated. "Some of them do what we do, and try to protect people. Others take advantage of them."

"Well, uh, I guess you could say that..." Johnny said with a shrug.

"No, not 'guess'," Robin continued. "You _know_."

"Ever heard of Metallo?" Cyborg asked Johnny. "He was once a hitman, then somehow his body got transformed into steel. He went insane, and tries every day to kill Superman."

"And there's that Shocker guy that Bobby fought yesterday," Spider-Man reminded them.

"Yeah. And as long as there's enough of a chance for the twelve of us to have our unique abilities, any psycho out there could have them too," Robin proclaimed. "That's why we must _always_ be ready."

(Fisk Industries, 10:30 AM)

Wilson Fisk, a huge, burly man weighing 450 pounds of muscle, puffed on his Cuban cigar. He beheld Manhattan below him from his office window, pondering the next action in his crime business. _Stark smells a rat_... _He's not going to hang onto the offer forever_... Fisk's eyes roved to the busy, cab-filled streets. _But if not Stark, who else would?_... _Bruce Wayne in Gotham is clean, too_... _It has to be someone I know would accept it_... _What about Norman Osborn?_

(Midtown High School, 8:00 AM)

Norman Osborn dropped his son off by the front of the school. "Harry," he called to him.

Harry looked back at Norman quickly and approached his father's car. "Yeah, dad?"

"You _did_ get that paper for Dr. Connors done, didn't you?"

Harry rolled his eyes and sighed. "Sorry, dad, I forgo -"

"Don't you 'Dad, I forgot' me again! This has been happening for two weeks in a row! Pull your head outta your ass and focus! What's getting to ya, son?"

"Dad, c'mon, there's been a lot of stress lately... It's been eight years since mom died, and MJ's been busy, and Peter - "

"Yeah, I know Peter left. That doesn't change a thing. What _will_ change is your future if you don't up your damn grades! I'm grateful that I get to wake up this early and bring you here, it gets me ready for Oscorp -"

"Damn it, dad, can't you just stop for once?!? I'm sorry, okay? I don't mean to forget about this, but it's _really_ hard. I was just getting focused, I was, but things have been tough since Pete left... He was my best friend, you knew that..."

Norman scowled in contempt at his spawn, but sighed. "I suppose your right. Sorry if I... Blew up on you, son. Just... Pay more attention, okay?"

"Sure thing, dad." Harry smiled and made his way to his first period class.

Norman reeled back onto the headrest. "_Shit_... God damn Quest Aerospace for taking this from me... I'll show them," he said as he veered out of his parking space and sped off into the street.

(Titans Tower, Kitchen, 10:35 AM)

"Hey, Peter," Bobby called to his friend, who was pouring himself a glass of milk.

"Yeah, Bobby?" he replied simply.

"How's your friend doing?"

"Which friend?" he asked with a puzzled expression.

"You know... That Osborn guy's kid."

"Oh, Harry?... I don't know... I would've said goodbye to him if I could... He's got so much on his shoulders..."

"I understand... I really miss the X-Mansion... But this whole thing about being a Teen Titan seems really cool," Bobby said.

"Yeah, I didn't think it would be so much fun!"

"I mean, it's more than that... Before, people would look down on me, because I was associated with mutants... Then when that Shocker guy or whoever came around just blasting things to crap, I got to prove that I could save the day, that I meant well..."

Peter paused. "You shouldn't be ashamed of hanging around with mutants..."

"... Well, I'm not, but, you know how people get... The whole 'Mutant-watch' thing being in effect, thanks to Senator Kelly..." he groaned shortly before rolling his eyes.

"I'm sure it'll be sorted out. If we keep doing what we do, people will eventually realize, 'Hey, they're not out here to hurt us. they're good people.' Then we won't ever have to worry about it again."

"Yeah, but don't you remember what Tim said? There are others with our potential that choose to abuse it. What if they confuse us? What if we're framed? What if they suspect that we could have some kind of secret motives or something?"

To this, Peter had no reply. He began pondering Bobby's words, and remembered how J. Jonah Jameson of the Daily Bugle, his former boss, often unknowingly badmouthed him...

_"That Spider-Man is a threat to the city! He'll take over all of New York by slowly winning them over, one by one, and when we least expect it, he'll stab us in the back! Just you wait and see!"_

Peter wore a bitter expression at the memory of the man's words. He _was_ Spider-Man, so he _knew_ that he never wanted any harm to befall the innocents of his city.

(Living Room, 10:45 AM)

"Okay, team. For those who haven't been here as long as the original members, this is how we communicate with each other when we're out and about." Tim, in full Robin attire, placed a small, metallic object in a round shape with a T in the middle. "This is a Titan's Communicator. Just open it up and press the red button on the side to speak. The black button below it changes who you communicate to."

Everyone nodded in unison, and were soon handed one of the tiny black devices.

"Today, we patrol as planned. Keep your communicators handy, and stay close to each other," Tim instructed.

And so, the Titans spread throughout the state of NY to keep it's streets safe...

(Clinton, 11:00 AM)

"This feels really strange." Raven was sitting on the edge of a roof, just peering down at the streets below.

Her close comrade, Kurt, sat beside her in a not-so-similar way, on his feet and crouching with his knees bent in a manner reminiscent of Spider-Man. "How so?"

"I've never really just kinda... Sat here before. Before, the Titans would all go out at once, and all I did was just follow along. Now I have to actually sit here and look out for anything suspicious."

"Would you prefer to relax?"

"Oh, definitely. I'm not the kind who likes to enforce things, but I understand that I may have to," Raven replied with a sigh.

"... What do you want to do when you want to feel relaxed?" Kurt probed in a caring tone.

Raven blinked, looking at Kurt like he'd just asked her name. "Meditate, of course..."

"Then go ahead and meditate... I'll tell you if I see anything..." Kurt offered with a warm smile.

"Thanks, Kurt..." Raven said appreciatevely. Soon she floated a foot back and got in the position to meditate. _Calm the mind_... _Find your center_... _Focus on your power_... While she much rather would do so in her room, Raven was surprised to find herself able to meditate through all the noise and commotion of Clinton's busy streets and neighborhoods.

Kurt enjoyed the expression on her face whenever she was comfortable. She was so serene when her eyes were closed, her delicately shaped body blending in perfectly with her smooth, creamy skin... He'd never really felt this way around anybody else before. He loved the warm sensation he experienced throughout his entire body when he embraced her, held her in his arms... He really wanted to become more than friends, and even Raven, who seemed to usually be apathetic and bitter to the world in it's entirety, hinted at it in a serious way. _But would it really work?_ he thought to himself. _I_... _I've never been in anything like that_... _What if I screw it up? What if she ends up hating me?_

He sighed quietly, suddenly feeling insecure and hoping Raven wouldn't hear him. _Besides_... _How can such ties be if it's not obvious that they could?_

(Queens, 11:05 AM)

Spider-Man was very bored. Johnny hadn't caught up with him, saying that he needed to take a detour fifteen minutes ago. So he was hanging upside down on a web from a part of an unfinished and apparently abandoned construction site, practicing the ability to control his web by letting it slip further out his wrist so that he'd drop further down, and then going back up as it slid inside once more. Finally, he got tired of waiting, and withdrew the Titans Communicator from his belt.

"Johnny, where the hell are ya?" he asked plainly before releasing the button.

A few seconds later, Johnny replied. "I'll be there in a minute. Just gotta pick this thing up," his voice sounded through Spidey's device.

Peter wrinkled his brow in curiosity. "Pick what up?" he asked.

"Jack In The Box," Johnny replied.

He was furious. "Johnny, this is NOT the time to mess around! Get your ass over here right now!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What the hell did I do?"

"You never goofed off like this when we watched the streets with Kurt and Bobby!"

"Relax, man! There's like... Twelve of us now? If anything happens, we can handle it."

Peter had really had enough. "Screw you, Johnny!" and with that, he released the web, flipped right side up, and started swinging to the streets below.

(Meanwhile, Jack In The Box)

Johnny scoffed bitterly and tucked away the device quickly when he heard the number of his order be called. Though nobody had asked him his name, he was the focus of many eyes; it wasn't every day that a man completely covered in fire soaring through the air stopped at a fast food restauraunt to pick up a Sourdough Jack.

"Here's your order, sir," the cashier tried to say as nonchalantly as possible, yet his eyes frozen on the young man like he'd just been hit in the crotch.

"Eh... Thanks," Johnny said with a strange look as he snatched the bag full of his food and went outside to eat at a shaded table.

(Bronx, 11:10 AM)

BB yawned in both boredom and exhaustion. Seeing as how Cyborg had only just finished the blueprints for a mysterios masterpiece he had dubbed "The T-Car", he had to offer Cyborg a piggy back ride all the way from the Titans Tower to their patrol destination. Seeing as how Cyborg's such a heavy guy, he needed to turn into a rhino to transport him properly, and not everyone driving by the Bronx today exactly expected to see that, so things were pretty unpleasant so far.

"See anything?" he asked his older ally.

"... Nope. Nothing. Scanners don't say anything... Can't hear a thing. It's so weird that the Bronx doesn't have SOMETHING going on today... You'd expect maybe at least a carjacker or something," Cyborg said with a shrug.

(Queens, 11:15 AM)

Spidey was feeling pretty bitter since Johnny decided to just blatantly ignore his duties. _Who does he think he is? That's just totally irresponsible_... _Ugh, I can't **believe** Johnny did that!!! And to think, I trusted him every time we'd go look out for crime_... He was sitting atop a gate separating the pavement from a basketball court by Yancy Street, coincidentally two blocks away from Midtown High. Surveying the busy street through his silvery eyepieces, everything seemed fine.

Minutes later, Johnny flew up to Peter's side in a fiery streak. "Alright, alright, I'm sorry! I just got hungry, you know?"

"Would feeding your face be so important if some innocent got shot right now?!?" Peter snapped at him.

Johnny reared back. "... Whoa, Pete... Take it easy..."

"How can I take it easy knowing YOU won't do your job?!?"

"Pete... You're the freakin' _Spider-Man_... You can do whatever you want..."

"Yeah, but can I be in two places at once?!? Huh?!?"

"You can tr - "

"SHUT UP!!!" Peter yelled, practically in Johnny's face. A few of the commoners below were looking up at the bickering red and blue superhero, causing Johnny to feel mocked and embarrassed.

"Seriously... Why are you spazzing out like this?"

"You _know_ why, Johnny..."

Johnny sulked, looking away. "... You're not the only one who's changed since joining the Titans..."

This comment caused a seething anger to course through Peter's skull, but he didn't reply.

The two superhumans with a seemingly broken friendship just continued to sit opposite of each other, never taking back a single word.

(Clinton, 11:10 AM)

"... I feel like something's wrong..." Raven said worriedly, a strange thought breaking her concentration.

Kurt beamed, looking back to her immediately. "Huh?"

"We need to go do something, Kurt..."

"What? What is it? Is it a crime?"

"No, it's my period - _yes_ it's a crime!!! Come on!" Raven surrounded herself with her own black energy, allowing her to fly, while Kurt held her hand and sailed through the sky with her.

(Queens, 11:17 AM)

Peter and Johnny were still pissed.

_No way_... _No god damn way_... _He's such an ignorant prick_... _I can't believe he'd just abandon his post like that_... Peter's thoughts of contempt continued to feed into his mind like a conveyor belt. His spiteful emotions were so strong, in fact, that he could hear his heart beating in his head. _And to think I considered Johnny Storm a friend_... _Hmph_. _He can piss off, for all I care_...

Johnny, however, seemed to take it differently. _Damn_... _Why the hell does everybody have to hold something against me? Peter's a cool guy, a cool friend_... _I'd hate to just_... _Drive him away like this_... _If it's not some total asshole who won't mind his own business, the 'higher forces' gotta turn my friends against me_... _Wow, does my life suck, or what?_

Seconds later, a wild, vibrant tingling rang throughout the back of Peter's neck.

"Oh my god," Johnny said suddenly.

Peter quickly ducked and leapt to the side, just in time to miss being hit by a huge stream of bright, blasting material. It was the Shocker.

"I swore I'd bust your ass for ruining my rep, webhead! And now I _will!!!_" the supervillain growled as he fired another huge beam from both of his gauntlets.

"Hey, rubber freak!" Johnny shouted as he flew high above a building.

"Johnny, no! Make sure he doesn't fire at the buildings!" Peter cried, but his friend wouldn't heed.

"Someone use you as a condom, yet?!?" Johnny quipped as he prepared a fireball to toss at Shocker, but the dark figure beat him to it and hit Johnny with a fully charged blast.

"NO!!!" Peter shouted.

Johnny's body convulsed and arched, the agony too much for him to make a sound; it felt as if he had just been thrust into a bath full of liquid pain, licking his muscles and bones with the flames of excruciation, the way it would have felt before he had gotten his powers, while free falling on a runaway roller coaster at 200 miles per hour. Once Shocker stopped firing the prolonged beam at Johnny, all the flame around his body vanished, his face wraught with a dead expression and his costume singed to a complete toast.

The tension that was throbbing in Peter's head earlier now turned into an unfathomable rage. He released a furious battle cry as he leapt towards Shocker, but seconds before he could land a blow, his spider sense warned him once again;

"Do it now! Quick!" a voice called from an alley. Peter's instincts forced him to look in the direction to see armed members of the Yancy Street Gang emerge from the shadows and randomly hold up innocent bystanders. Gritting his teeth and spewing caused Peter to secrete a low hissing noise, but a huge _SMACK!!!_ as well as a deep, smarting pressure in his jaw pulling his entire body to the right as Shocker punched him head-on with one of his large, metallic gauntlets. He managed to recover in time to land on his hands and flip back to his feet, firing a web right in Shocker's face. The villain flinched, caught off guard and blinded, as Spidey yanked him forward and hopped up before slamming the front of his foot against Shocker's forehead.

Shocker flew back to the very spot he just stood and quickly tried to shake off the blow. Spidey had leapt at him and attempted to grab him by the neck, but Shocker just held his gauntlets out in front of him, shocking Spider-Man on impact. Still, Peter aimed to persist. He fired two huge gobs of impact webbing at Shocker, covering his gauntlets.

"What?!? What the hell are you doing?!?" he ranted in confusion before Spidey leapt on him with his head between his knees, turned so that it forced Shocker to turn around, and did a backflip while landing on his hands, throwing Shocker at the wall with his legs. He then looked over to the civilians - luckily, Nightcrawler and Raven arrived in time to begin dealing with the Yancy Street Gang.

Raven had used her levitating powers on one to make him slam into another while Nightcrawler twisted and turned, dodging the strikes that the crooks would throw at him while kicking them in the faces and punching wherever he found an open spot. Nightcrawler perked as he saw one of the cronies reloading an automatic pistol. "RAVEN, LOOK OUT!!!" he shouted as he teleported behind her. The goon noticed this and quickly fumbled with his gun. Kurt put his arms around Raven's waist, ready to teleport away, but Raven was alert enough to shield herself with dark energy. The bullets fired harmlessly bounced off, and Kurt froze in amazement. When the thug ran out, practically sweating bullets, he dug inside his pockets for another magazine, but Raven contorted the shield into a huge fist that she used to knock the thug out cold. She then looked back to Kurt, who was gaping in awe. Raven blushed and glanced at Kurt with the most adorable look in her eyes. Kurt realized that she was still touching her.

"Umm..."

"What are you waiting for? There's more of them!" Raven chimed.

"Oh! Right..."

Kurt and Raven continued to fight off the others while Spider-Man fought with Shocker. Peter had dodged the punches that Shocker threw his way before he finally grabbed the villain by the arm and started to hold it against him menacingly. _Time for a taste of your own medicine, you heartless bastard_...

"H-hey, what are you doing?!? You're supposed to be a hero, r-right?"

Peter froze. _Uncle Ben_...

_He wouldn't want me to do this_...

_He would never want me to hurt a person_... _To **kill** a person_...

_He would want me to use my powers responsibly_... _To help people_...

As Peter continued to stare off into space, Shocker took his chance and kicked him in the crotch. Peter shook violently, and let go of Shocker's arm.

"Hey! That's a cheap shot!" He barely managed to sputter.

"Didn't you hear? No mercy..." Shocker said while glaring at his enemy.

Peter quickly readied himself for battle once more.

"Go ahead, I'll give you a free shot," Shocker said mockingly as he held out his arms as if he were Jesus.

_There I go ignoring my spider sense again,_ Peter thought to himself while running up to Shocker and attempting to drop kick him.

This time, instead of Shocker using the gauntlets to protect himself, electricity somehow gathered around his entire body, aligning from the prods on his suit. Spidey was shocked, and fell down.

"OW!!!" Peter yelped as he rubbed his hip and struggled to get up.

Shocker laughed sadistically. "Say hello to my secret weapon, Spider-Man..." the same thing began to happen, the suit pulling electricity from telephone poles, cars, buildings... "... I can use whatever I want to fuel my power... You can't stop me," he finished with a dirty smirk beneath his mask.

"I'd rather try than let some aged 'Trojan' like you win you the day," Peter retorted.

The provoked Shocker threw an aggressive punch across Spidey's cheek, which landed perfectly. Peter hollered upon being hit, his dazy head briefly shaking from the impact as he fell to his knees, his vision beginning to swirl and distort. "Ugh..." he groaned groggily.

Shocker raised the gauntlets above him, powering them with more energy as more electricity crackled around his suit, causing Peter to see eight threatening gloves of thunder and four man-shaped eclipse-like lights revolving in the manner of a ferris wheel. "You've cost me a lot of jail time, web head... So now I'm going to pay it back..." the villain's voice echoed in his head. Shocker then threw down his gauntlets in an attempt to both crush and shock Spider-Man. Peter's danger-detecting sixth sense rattled as wild as ever, instantly placing his other senses back in focus as he grabbed Shocker's forearms just in time, stopping the gauntlets. Unfortunately, Shocker was still drawing energy from the environment around him, causing Spidey to _still_ get shocked. He emitted a scream of pain as he threw his head back, firmly gripping the arms and trying to throw them off, but the shock made this too much to handle.

Kurt sprung into the air upside down, his feet above him knocking a Yancy Street gangster onto the floor. He gasped when he saw Peter helplessly suffering the way he was. He vanished in another puff of dark velvet and reappeared behind Shocker, aiming to punch him in the back of the head.

"K-kurt... N-n-no!" Peter cried, but fortunately Shocker did not have any of the prods on his mask, so hitting him on the back of the head was not a problem. The villain stumbled forward, throwing his gauntlets outward as he struggled to recover, accidentally stopping the electric charge in the process. Peter leapt back to his feet. _I definitely won't kill you, but you do have something coming_... _This one's for Johnny,_ Peter growled in his mind as he punched with all his might into Shocker's gut. The blow plowed into Shocker's flesh so hard that he could feel his stomach wrench and get pulled all the way to his back. Shocker bounced off of Peter's fist, trembling madly, his entire body yanked upward like a puppet on strings upon the impact. When he was on his feet again two seconds later, Shocker puked inside his mask, the vomit overflowing from the small crevice between the mask and suit by the neck. He realized how dangerous this was should it come in contact with the prods, and pressed a button in his gauntlets that shut his entire suit off before he passed out.

Kurt gave Peter a look as if he were about to say "Damn!" in shock, but before any conversation could be exchanged, Raven called "We need help! Come on!"

Kurt immediately teleported back to the spot he was fighting at earlier, and Spider-Man somersaulted off the roof all the way to the scene in a single bound.

A particularl bald thug had fetched an AK-47 and was giving Raven big trouble. Whenever he aimed for her, she would shield herself with her energy, causing him to turn his aim onto innocent civilians and forcing Raven to divert the shield to them and then back to herself back and forth while his friends would take people's money at gunpoint. Just as Raven accidentally diverted the shield onto innocents who were already escaping to safety, Spider-Man shot a gob of impact webbing onto the end of the gun, causing it to refuse to fire.

"Dumb, ugly, and cheap to boot... Wow! A triple threat guy!" Peter joked as he flipped his entire body into the air in a ball before slamming both of his feet in the thug's face, knocking him out cold. He quickly bounced off of the defeated crook's face and grabbed two side by side muggers, slamming their heads against each other and rendering them unconscious as well.

Suddenly another large crowd of the gang toting shotguns ran onto the scene from inside an alley. Raven gasped as four of them were about to readily fire their shotguns upon a group of six terrified, helpless children. Thinking quickly, she created a wall of black energy between the thugs and children, causing the gunfire to be harmless. They froze, baffled, and Raven quickly wrapped the wall around the barrels of each of their guns, forcing them to twist out of the criminal's grasp and then smack each one of them across the face in one swift motion, taking them out.

"Kurt, get them to a safe place, _please,_" she begged, motioning to the children.

Kurt nodded, and quickly held his arms out to the children. "Come with me, I'm not going to hurt you..." he explained as the six kids hugged him tightly, then vanished in a black cloud the next instant.

Peter's spider sense blared again. "Raven! The left!"

She had no idea what this meant at first, but looked in the direction Peter shouted to find that reinforcements had arrived - with submachine guns. She formed another wall of black energy, trying hard to encase all the gunfire in an instant, yet it spanned the entire street. She groaned and clenched her teeth as her mind began to wane, the use of so much power at a time being difficult for her.

Spider-Man had dispatched a few more thugs as some of the SMG-wielding ones that ran past Raven before she made the shield were about to open fire on him. Quickly, he shot four webs simultaenously, yanking the guns off all four of his attackers. _My spider sense is on the fritz today,_ he groaned as he started bouncing between the thugs, distributing various strikes to them all. Two of them punched at Spidey at once, and Peter ducked, only to regret it the instant after. His spider sense prickled again, and across the street he saw an unattended gang member shoot a woman in the hip with a handgun and run off with her purse.

"NO!!!" Peter shouted as he swung away. He quickly bombarded the crook and gave him the flogging of his life in three seconds before leaping back to the victim with her purse in hand. "Lady... Lady... Are you okay? Are you okay?" his shaky voice and the words it uttered felt so futile to him. The woman was quivering madly, breathing rapidly, groaning as the pain ate away at her wound and more blood leaked onto the cement. Peter felt a tremendous amount of guilt overwhelm him; he didn't even know what to do, and because he was too busy playing around, somebody got shot. All he could do know was let his face drop into his hands, still kneeling before the poor woman.

The two thugs that Spidey neglected to finish turned their attention to Raven, who was still struggling to hold off the band of bloodthirsty thugs that she was blocking behind her psychic wall. Seeing as how they had no guns, they snuck up to Raven in an attempt to mug her, just when Kurt arrived.

"I don't think so," Kurt leered in his German accent. The thugs looked back at him, and he quickly kicked one of the two straight in the sternum, knocking the wind out of him, and slamming the other's head onto his knee, finishing what Spidey started.

Raven had her eyes closed for the past twenty seconds. She was focusing her power on rendering the criminals' weapons harmless. ..._Bingo,_ she thought as she finally attained what she needed. The black energy surrounded each of the cronies' guns, and soon they fell apart, cartridges and all. They looked around in confusion before Kurt started to beat each one of them up, holding his own in every direction. Raven then looked behind her to see Peter grieving over his failure to save the woman from being shot. She used her power to fly over right next to them. Peter didn't notice her.

The woman's terrified eyes looked over to Raven as she kept panting and heaving. "Don't worry... I'm gonna fix this," Raven said reassuringly. She concentrated, and the black energy surrounded the bullet lodged in the side of the woman's pelvis. She harmlessly removed it and spent six seconds applying serious concentration onto forming an artificial bandage.

"Take her to the hospital," Raven said in half-plead, half-order. Peter lifted his head from his hands, wordless.

"_Please_, Spider-Man. She really needs it," she continued as she looked down at the hapless woman, who was still feeling the pain of bleeding, looking between the two superheroes with wide, fearful, pleading eyes.

"... It's not like I wasn't going to..." Spider-Man mumbled in a stoic tone. He noticed the black energy Raven used to cover the spot where the woman was bleeding and understood that it wouldn't last forever. He hurriedly took her in his arms, said "Please, try to relax... I'm gonna get you to a hospital..." before taking off into the sky and swinging with the victim.

Raven watched Spider-Man until he was out of sight, and then walked back to where Kurt was. One of the beaten thugs had woke up, and Kurt was interrogating him.

"Why did you do this?!?" he barked.

"... I-it's that Herman Schultz guy... He promised we'd get dough if we could elude S-Spider-Man..." the thug replied.

"Herman Schultz who?"

"You know, you've seen him on the news and stuff... That Shocker guy... Over there," he said as he pointed a shaky finger to Shocker's unconscious body, still on the roof.

Kurt sighed, and punched the thug in the face, knocking him out again. "So it was a setup... Shocker was going to try and kill us while the Yancy Street Gang went on their parade..."

Raven grabbed her Titans' Communicater. "Robin, come in... Some serious stuff just happened..."

Soon after, Robin's voice sounded from her device. "I'm here, Raven. What's going on?"

"The Shocker returned, and it looks like he beat up Johnny really bad..." she noted as she saw his body on the street.

"Did you get him?" Robin asked.

"Spider-Man already took care of that," Raven replied.

"Is there anything else?"

"Yeah... We were attacked by the Yancy Street Gang, and someone was shot... Spider-Man's taking them to the hospital right now..."

"It wasn't in a vital spot, was it?"

"No. Just her hip... She'll be fine. I used some magic to help keep her well..."

"Very good. We all need to regroup - right now."

(Titans Tower, Medical Room, 11:50 AM)

Johnny had been getting medical treatment for the past fifteen minutes. While his costume might say otherwise, he was doing a lot better than the Titans first expected; by now he was fully conscious, and while he complained of an ache, seemed fully capable.

"You're really lucky you survived that," Cyborg told him.

"... What exactly hit me again?"

"Shocker. He hit you with a fully charged blast from his gauntlets. Your costume is made of some special fabric that prevented more than half of what would have happened to you."

"... Damn..." Johny groaned as he sat up. "I guess I am one lucky S.O.B, aren't I?"

"You can say that again... Your costume says that you were a member of the Fantastic Four. Apparently, it's fabric is specially designed to protect you from normally lethal conditions, like things that could come in contact with your body. It may be really roughed up now, but you could use it again if you want. Don't think that your local laundromat could make a difference, though."

"I guess I'll just have to spraypaint it or something," Johnny replied with a toothy smile.

"Anyways, I just want to let you know how serious this was. Had you not been wearing that suit, you would have broken every bone in your body. You would've became a cripple," Cyborg explained.

"... Wait, WHAT?!?"

"I told you, your suit absorbed the impact. Apparently it wasn't able to stop any of the pain you experienced, but injury, yes. You would have gotten some minor burns thanks to those threads, but seeing as how you're immune to that because of your powers, consider yourself as having a bruise."

"We're going to make you a new costume," Robin added. "We want to model it like the one that you wore previously."

Johnny roled his eyes. "You _can't_ make 'Fantastic Four' threads if you ain't a member of the Fantastic Four!"

"I meant the fabric, Johnny, not the style," Robin corrected. "The way it will _look_... Will make you look like a Teen Titan."

(Queens, Hospital, 11:40 AM)

Spider-Man slowly slipped down the last web on the way to the hospital, the woman who was shot still in his arm. He immediately started walking inside, everyone looking up at him, baffled.

"Um... Is there a gurney here?" he asked plainly.

As nurses came by and put the shooting victim on the gurney, Raven's artificial shield disappeared, causing her wound to open again. She winced, but looked back over to Spider-Man. "Thank... You..." she uttered weakly as the nurses wheeled her down the hall.

Peter lowered his head. _How can you thank me if I didn't save you?_

(Titans Tower, Living Room, 11:50 AM)

Peter had finally arrived in the Titans Tower once again. He sighed, pacing in a very unmotivated manner down the hall towards his room.

Beast Boy had started to play video games with Bobby for the first time. Bobby noticed Peter returning. "Hey, look! It's the superhero of the hour! Way to go, man!" Bobby praised after he paused the game, clapping. Peter didn't respond.

"... Dude... What's got him so down?" BB asked.

"... Not sure..."

Jubilee walked in from the kitchen with a bowl of popcorn. She saw Rogue coming in from the hall, smiled and waved, and motioned for her to sit next to her on the huge couch.

"Want some popcorn?"

"No..."

"... What's the matter?"

"... I can't do this..."

"Aw, honey... What do you mean?"

"... I just can't... I can't be a Teen Titan," Rogue mumbled sadly.

"Please... Don't say that," Jubilee cooed in a comforting tone as she put her arm around her friend "You've got tons of potential..."

"All I do is ever sap the life out of people... How can I help someone if all I'll ever do is hurt them?"

Jubilee sighed, unsure what to say. "Please, Anne. We're here to support you. Just as long as you try, it'll be fine..."

To everyone's surprise, Robin wasn't typing away at his laptop in search of actions for the Titans, but standing away from the TV and studying Rogue. Starfire noticed this, and flew up to her best friend and leader.

"Friend, Robin... What is troubling you?"

"It's Rogue..."

"What about her?"

"... I don't know... It's just... Don't you see how unhappy she is?" Robin asked Starfire while gesturing to the girl of the topic.

"... She does seem very... Unoptimistic, Robin... How can we help her?"

Robin sighed. "I'm not sure... It just worries me because... While all the Titans are very busy, and fight hard for an important cause... I want us all to enjoy ourselves... Before, it was Raven we'd all worry about, whom we'd try to drag to places when we _can_ relax and always _trying_ to cheer her up... But now she has that good friend, Kurt... And Rogue... Just seems so lonely," he said.

Starfire seemed nervous at this. "Do you think you want to be Rogue's... Companion, friend Robin?"

"Companion?" Robin asked. "You mean a friend? Of course she's my friend... I'm friends with everyone on the team..."

"No, Robin... I mean as in close to her, like Raven and the blue human..."

Robin blushed. "No, Starfire, I'm not interested in her like that, just concerned... And I wouldn't exactly jump to conclusions, Raven and Kurt never said they were dating or anything..."

"What do you mean by dating, Robin?"

"... Dating is when... People decide to be more than friends, Star... It's really complicated, though... It's not a good idea to date unless you're _sure_ you want to be with that person, and you've known them long enough to trust them..."

(To be continued...)

Alright! My first good chapter! I'll try to write another one later today. Boy, this one was long, though...

You know what I just noticed after all this time? I spelled Jinx wrong. Oh well, it looks cooler with a y in it.

And I know this is seriously off-topic, but I really don't get BBxRae people. I mean, how does it make sense?!? Raven can't _stand_ Beast Boy, everyone knows that...

Well, I'm going to try and put more emphasis on the other titans in the next few chapters, everything seems to feel like it's about Spider-Man, Johnny and Iceman, but it's not... Will also develop more with NCxRae later on and perhaps some other pairings?

lol. Now I'm a pair-addict, just like so many other TT fans...

Anyways, expect to see a new form of the H.I.V.E F.I.V.E arriving sometime soon...


End file.
